Best Friends
by Ryn of Magic
Summary: Lindsey has been best friends with Sam ever since they can remember.What will happen when they get caught in the battle for the Allspark? No Miles and a lot less Mikaela. Sam/OC, which kind of gives it away. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**A/N – I have nothing against Makayla – and in the future, Carly – but I really wanted to write this.**

**Disclaimer – I do not own Transformers.**

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><p><em>Before time began, there was the cube. We know not where it comes from. Only that it holds the power to create worlds and fill them with life. That was how we were born. For a time we lived in harmony. But like with all great power, some wanted it for good, others for evil. And so began the war. A war that ravaged our planet until it was consumed by death. And the cube was lost to the far reaches of space. We scattered across the galaxy, hoping to find it and rebuild our home. Searching every star, every world. And just when all hope seemed lost, message of a new discovery led us to a planet called Earth. But we were already too late.<em>

Last class of the day. I was sitting next to my best friend, Sam Witwicky. I was glad that I had already given my report. But I didn't think Sam would get his final A that he needed. "Mr. Witwicky? You're up" the teacher called. I crossed my fingers. Sam had raised two thousand dollars and only needed one more A and he could get his first car.

Sam hurriedly got up and stumbled his way to the front of the room.

He lifted his backpack and dumped all of his great-great-grandfather's things onto the table. "Sorry, I got a lot of stuff" he sorted through the jumbled mess. "For my family…"

Sam then got hit in the head by a folded piece of paper. I sighed and didn't bother to look for who did it. No one usually noticed Sam enough to pick on him except Trent.

"Who did that?" the teacher looked around the room, pointing his finger at us. "People, responsibility" yeah right, I snorted. What high school student is going to be responsible?

"For my family genealogy report, I decided to do it on my great-great-grandfather, who is a famous man. Captain Archibald Witwicky" he started off. "He was one of the first to explore the Arctic Circle, which is a very big deal" I stopped listening at that point. Sam had practiced his report in front of me so often, I could have given it for him.

The bell rang as Sam was trying to convince our fellow students to by his great-great-grandfather's things for money. I shook my head. "I'll meet you at the car, okay?" I told him. He nodded, and started talking to the teacher, trying to persuade him to give Sam an A.

I saw Ron standing by his car in the parking lot. "Hi dad" I said, sliding into the back. I've been best friends with Sam ever since we could remember. And since I spent 95% of my life at the Witwicky household, I called Ron and Judy, Mom and Dad.

"Hey Lindsey. How'd he do?" I smiled. "Same as usual" we all knew what that meant. No Witwicky was normal, and because I was an honorary Witwicky, that rule applied to me as well.

I guess I should explain myself. My name is Lindsey Maria Stewart, but I was more Witwicky than Stewart. I was only a few inches shorter than Sam was. I was slender thought; he could wrap both his arms around my waist and touch his opposite elbows. I was slightly curvy, but it's not like it mattered. I had dark, brown-blond hair that reached the middle of my back, and had bright bond steaks, making me look more blond than brunette. I also had dark green eyes, and tanned skin from the short-shorts and tank-tops I wore all the time. Yeah, it was more girly than I really liked, but it was usaually so hot I couldn't think about wearing anything else.

Sam came running out right then, almost skipping in joy. "Yes, yes, YES!" he cried. He threw his backpack in the back seat next to me and slid into the passenger seat. "Well?" we asked him. "A-, but it's an A thought"

"Let me see" Sam held the paper still long enough for his dad to look at it. "Yep, you're good" Rom started driving towards where we would end up getting Sam's first car.

"I got a surprise for ya, son" Ron told him as he pulled into a Porsche dealership. "A little surprise" Sam looked around in awe. "No, no, no, no, no, no Dad! You gotta be kidding me" I was smiling at Sam's enthusiasm. It was uncharacteristic for Ron to spend that much money on something. I was a little sceptic, but didn't want to ruin it for Sam.

"I am. You're not getting a Porsche" and he started laughing at mine and Sam's sad expressions. "You think that's funny?" I asked him. "Yeah, I think that's funny" he said, still chuckling. "You think I'd really get you a Porsche for your first car?" he asked as we drove from the Porsche lot down the street, to what looked to be a junk yard next to a petting zoo.

There was a clown standing the entrance holding a sign. He wore heavy make-up and looked like he was about to pass out. I shook my head. This was Nevada. You were crazy to wear long-sleeves here, let alone a heavy clown costume and equally heavy make-up.

"I'm not gonna talk to you…" Sam and his dad kept arguing as we pulled into the lot.

"What is this? You said half a car, not half a piece of crap" Sam cried as he saw the old, worn down cars that filled the lot. I shook my head. As a mechanic, I hated to see all these cars run down like this. "Don't worry Sam, even if you get a crappy car, I can try to get it into perfect working condition" I tried to comfort him, wrapping an arm around his waist. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we fallowed Ron.

"When I was your age I would have been happy with four wheels and an engine" he scolded us. "Back then four wheels and an engine were all there was" I muttered. "Have you ever seen the 40-year-old virgin" Sam asked his dad as we stopped by a couple of cars out front. Ron nodded. "That's what this is" Sam pointed to one car, "And this is the 50-year-old virgin" I laughed.

"No sacrifice, no victory" Ron reminded Sam of the family motto. "Yeah, yeah, I know the old Witwicky motto"

Suddenly a black man in white pants, white hat, and an ugly button up shirt came out of the building in front of us. "Bobby Bolivia, like the country but without the runs" he said, mispronouncing ruins. "My son here, is about to buy his first car" Ron told him. Sam looked down, depressed at what state his future car was going to be in.

Bolivia looked happily surprised. "And you come to see me?" He asked proudly, pointing to himself. "I had to" Sam muttered. "Shh" I shushed him, smiling softly.

"That makes us family" Bolivia proclaimed. "Uncle Bobby B, baby, uncle Bobby B" he said, shaking Sam's hand. The one that wasn't wrapped around my shoulders. "Sam" he didn't introduce me, and Bolivia didn't seem to care, though I saw him eyeing me a little while we were all standing there.

"Sam. Let me talk to ya" he led same towards more cars. "Your first enchilada of freedom lies underneath one of those hoods" I walked away from Sam to look at some of the other cars. He didn't even really notice, distracted by Bolivia talking to his and dragging him along.

It was then I saw it. A 1977 Chevy Camaro in bright yellow, with black racing stripes. I walked over to him and dragged my hand along his hood as I made my way to the driver's seat. I opened the door and sat down. "Wow. What's a beauty like you doing in a junk yard like this" I asked him. Yes him, I give all electronics genders, well, most. And this car was defiantly a him.

The three guys approached the Camaro. I wasn't really listening to what they were talking about. I was too busy looking at the car. I held onto the steering wheel when I noticed some dirt covering something in the center of the steering wheel. My concentration was interrupted by Bolivia shouting.

Sam opened the door before I could actually listen to what Bolivia was shouting. "What is it, Lindsey?" he asked me, as I was the car expert. "He's a '77 Chevy Camaro. Good condition, haven't looked at the engine yet. But I think this car the best you're gonna get here. And he's a pretty dang good car"

I moved over, into the passenger seat so Sam could sit in the driver's seat. "Feel's good" he sounded surprised as he ran his hands along the steering wheel. He ran his thumb over the horn, removing the dirt I had noticed earlier. "Yeah, I saw that when I was looking him over" I said as I leaned closer. I tried not to notice how close Sam and I were. He was my best friend, but recently… I don't know.

"Do you know what it is" he asked, thinking it was some kind of car symbol. I shook my head. "No idea. I've never seen something like that before" I told him. I leaned back in my seat.

"How much?" we heard Sam's dad ask. "Well," Bolivia started, seeming fine with selling a car that he had no idea how it got here, what is was, and who really owned it, "Considering the semi-classic nature of the vehicle" I snorted _semi-classic_, "Slick wheels and the custom paint job" Sam interrupted him. "The paints faded" he said, calling Bolivia's bluff. "Yeah, but it's custom" he said, leaning in through the window, making me lean into Sam. "So its custom faded?" he asked. Bolivia looked flustered. "It's your first car, so I wouldn't expect you to understand" he stood up and faced Sam's dad.

"Five grand" I flinched, I knew Ron wouldn't pay that. "No, I'm not going over four. I'm sorry" he said. I shook my head. I knew how much Sam had his heart set on this car. If he couldn't have a Porsche, he wanted this. Nothing else in the lot even came close to the Camaro.

"Kids, come on, get out of the car" he said, leaning the window again with a serious expression. "You said car's pick their drivers" I must have missed that. "And sometimes they pick drivers with cheap-ass fathers, now come one" he stood up again, and Sam reluctantly opened the door.

"Now this one here for four G's is a bueate" he said, climbing into the bug next to the Camaro. "There's a fiesta with racing stripes over there" Ron suggested as Sam helped me out of the car through the driver's door. I didn't want any closer to Bolivia than I had to be.

"I don't want a fiesta with racing stripes" Sam mumbled. Bolivia was talking, but I couldn't really hear what he was saying. Sam slammed the door of the Camaro shut, and as soon as it shut the passenger door opened and slammed into the door of the bug next to it, the one Bolivia was in.

I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand in shock when it happened. The bug's horn beeped with the impact. Bolivia climbed out of the passenger door window after something on the other side of the bug fell over. "Are you alright?" Ron asked him. Bolivia insisted he was fine.

"Gave me a heart attack" I told Sam. He nodded. "Are you okay?" he asked me. I nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm fine. But I can tell you this: if we do end up with the Camaro, which I hope we do, then we're gonna have one strange car" I saw Sam smile out of the corner of my eye when I said 'we' instead of 'you'.

"A sledge hammer will knock this right out. Hey Manny!" He called the guy in the garage again. "Get your clown cousin and get a hammer and come bang this stuff out baby!" he cried. He used the word baby too often. It kind of creeped me out.

Bolivia pointed to another car. "That one's my favorite. Drove it all the way from Alabammy" he said, walking over to it. I heard something going on with the radio. Suddenly a loud sound came from the Camaro and all of the windows of every car but the Camaro blew out, leaving them all windowless.

"Wow" we covered our ears with our hands and fell to the ground, trying to avoid broken glass. Sam covered me with his arm, trying to protect me to. He was always over protective of me.

Bolivia stood and looked around at the destruction all around him. All because of one mysterious old Camaro.

"Four Thousand" he said in a squeaky voice, holding up four fingers. I looked at Sam. He knew what was coming.

"Told you"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N – I forgot to mention, there's no Miles! I'm so happy! I did not like that guy.**

**If Lindsey seems Mary-Sure, I'm sorry. I'm trying to make her as realistic as possible.**

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><p>Sam and I were hanging in his room with his Chihuahua, Mojo. "Alright, Mojo, I've got the car. Now I need the girl" He set his keys down on a random shelf and sat down at his computer. I patted Mojo's head, feeling sorry for him, since his paw was still in a cast.<p>

I lounged on Sam's bed, tired from the whole car-buying ordeal. "I need money to take out the girl is what I need" Sam muttered as he looked at his eBay page. "And your best friend" I reminded him. He glanced at me and smiled at how comfortable I was on him bed, and in his room. Whenever I slept over at the Witwicky's – which was pretty often – I usually shared Sam's bed. Now, don't let your mind go to the gutter. We're friends, not a couple. Nothing ever happened.

"And my best friend" he added, looking back at his computer. "0 bids" he sighed. I assumed he was looking at the page the glassed were on. "Great" he got up again and started walking. I got up with a grunt and fallowed him. "Come on Mojo, you want your pain pill?" he asked as we walked out of his room.

He ended up in the bathroom, probably forgetting that I was even there, and looked at himself in the mirror.

"Ah, no. Premature. Nothing. You know, driving my car. Driving my car" he checked his breath and then sprayed breath freshener – I think – in his mouth before returning to his room. I smiled and shook my head at his antics as I followed him.

"I know you get wasted on these things" Sam said as he sat down next to where Mojo was resting on his desk holding Mojo's pill bottle, "But if you pee on my bed again you'll be sleeping outside, you understand?" He fed Mojo the pill. "Save it for later. No more" Sam said, standing and putting the bottle away. I looked at Mojo for a moment. "Crack head" was all I said as I fallowed Sam out.

Sam turned to look at me. "You ready to go to that party?" he asked me. I looked down at myself. I was wearing my favorite blue and green rubber flip-flops, faded blue denim shorts that were just barely longer than Daisy Dukes, and a lacy white tank-top with a think blue plaid flannel button up shirt over that, the buttons undone.

I looked back at Sam and smiled. "Yup, I'm ready"

We walked outside to see Ron working on the path and Judy stepping on certain stones and complaining.

"This one's uneven" she informed him. "Probably" Ron answered, distracted with the work he was doing.

"This one's wobbly"

"I'll take care of that"

"Oh, couldn't we have hired a professional?" Judy asked him.

Sam laughed and held up the keys triumphantly as we walked across the grass. Ron looked up at us and we stopped when he started talking. "Aw, Sam…" Sam looked around to see what he did wrong, "What?"

"I do not like footprints on my grass"

"There are no footprints" Sam cried, looking behind him. "That's why I built my path" Ron said, gesturing towards the stone path he was working on. "So why don't you go from my grass to my path, okay?"

"It's family grass, Dad" Sam said as we walked onto the path. "Yeah, well, when you own your own grass, you'll understand"

But Sam was already distracted by something else.

Something far worse.

"Okay, I can't stand this anymore" Sam said, walking towards him mom. "What?" she asked, innocently. "You're putting girl jewelry on a boy dog. He has enough issues as a Chihuahua" he said, pointing to Mojo, who was lying outside his house, which was labeled 'Mojo's Penthouse' and was sitting on a wooden post with a ramp so that Mojo could actually get up there. I giggled at the interaction.

"That's his bling" Judy insisted. He shook his head and we went for the Camaro. "Want you home by eleven o'clock!" Judy called after us as we got in. Yes, us. Like I said, Judy and Ron are more my parents that my biological parents are.

"Drive safely!" Ron called as Sam turned on the engine. It took a minute, but when it did, a big black cloud came out of the exhaust pipe. I coughed and waved my hand in front of my face. "I'm giving your car a cleaning tomorrow" I told him. He nodded. "Thanks" he said as we started driving.

**Flash of Sam's POV**

As I drove, I looked at Lindsey from the corner of my eye. It had only been recently, but I had started to notice how beautiful she looked. Not like a best friend would, but more like a guy would notice his crush… like how I used to notice Mikaela. I mentally shook my head. She was my best friend. Mikeala was the girl for me. I just had to remember that.

**Back to Lindsey's POV**

"Are you sure we were invited?" I asked him as we got closer to the lake. "Of course we're invited, it's a lake. Public property" he insisted.

"Oh my God, Mikaela's here" I shook my head. "I'm good, right?" he asked as we got out of the car and walked towards the lake. I nodded. "You're good" _better than good, you're Sam Witwicky_, but I didn't say that out loud.

"Hey bro! That car. It's nice" Trent called as we walked closer. I slowed down my pace. I hated to admit it, but Trent kind of scared me. I know he's harmless and all that, but he was also huge, and I'm tiny.

Mikaela had her arms wrapped around Trent and watched us from behind his shoulder.

"What are you guys doing here?" Trent asked. I saw Sam trying to come up for a reason. _Oh, for the love of…_ "We came because it's our night out to celebrate. We thought: why not go to the lake? We didn't know there was a party going on" I said coolly. Trent narrowed his eyes at me. "Celebrate what?" I gestured towards the Camaro. "Sam's first car"

He looked at Sam. "I thought I recognized you. You tried out for football last year, right?" I flinched. Not one of Sam's proudest moments. He was on ice for a week or so.

"Oh that? No, no, no, that wasn't, like, a real try-out or anything. I was researching a book I was writing" Sam came up with. It wasn't the best, but it didn't totally suck. "Oh yeah?" Trent asked, crossing his arms. "What's it about? Sucking at sports?"

I seriously thought Sam was going to turn tail and get the heck out of there. But he made me proud with his next come back.

"No. It's about the link between brain damage and football. No, it's a good book, your friends would love it. It's got mazes in it, little coloring areas, sections, little pop-up pictures, it's a lot of fun" I giggled quietly. "Oh that's funny" Trent looked like he was going to pound Sam for making fun of him.

"Okay, stop it" I said getting in between Sam and Trent. I stood so that my back was against Sam's chest. Apparently Mikaela had the same idea, because she got in the middle too, placing her hands on Trent's chest. When it looked like Trent wouldn't beat Sam to a pulp, Mikaela went to Trent's truck.

"Hey guys, I know of a party. It's all set" Sam wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me back to the Camaro. When we were back to the car, I looked at Sam. "I'm sorry" I said, glancing at the crowd. He looked at my in shock. "Why?" he asked. I shrugged. 'Well, If I wasn't there, you might have gotten to talk to Mikaela" I said, blaming to whole situation on myself.

Sam hugged me. "It's not your fault" he told me firmly. I hugged him back, my face nestled in the crook of his neck before I let go and got into the car. I sat in the passenger's seat as Sam was leaning against the side of the hood of the car. He was watching Mikaela walk away. The car's radio suddenly turned on. "_Whose gonna drive you home tonight?_"

"I'm gonna drive her home" Sam said. I bit my lip. I knew he liked her, but it still hurt. But when he looked at me, I nodded. "I'll see you at home" He didn't even bother to look surprised. "You stayin' over?" I smiled slightly and nodded. I climbed out of the Camaro and watched as he drove away before pulling out my phone and asking Ron to pick me up.

**Sam's POV**

I was a lot less nervous around Mikaela than I thought I would be. The butterflies I got around her were nothing like the ones I got around Lindsey.

Lindsey. I felt bad just leaving her. I remember Mikaela's question after I dropped her off. "You think I'm shallow?" I had shaken my head. "You remind me of my friend, Lindsey"

After I had said that, I realized how true that statement was. They were both beautiful, smart, and mechanics. They were both out of my league. But I didn't know Mikaela very well, so she was a safer bet.

Maybe it wasn't Mikaela that I wanted, but my best friend.

I hit my head several times on the steering wheel. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. Not Mikaela, Lindsey!" I drove home, thinking about how to tell my best friend I thought I liked her more than a friend or a sister.

**Lindsey's POV**

I woke from my position on Sam's floor – yes, I decided to sleep on the floor rather than his bed – to Sam running out of the house, screaming. "That's my car!" he ran around the house before going outside. "Dad, call the cops!" Sam screamed as he raced after his car on his bike. I stayed in the house. I knew, no matter how determined, Sam would be home soon.

What I didn't expect was a call from the police and a trip to the station.

"I can't be any clearer and how crystal clear I am being" Sam explained to the cop. "It just stood up" the cops shook their head. "It just stood up. Wow. That's really neat. Alright Chippy, time to fill 'er up. And no drippy-drippy" the cop questioning Sam held out a tissue and a cup.

"What are you rolling? Whippets, goof-balls, a little wowy sauce with the boys?" (**A/N – Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I thought I heard**)

I tried to keep my temper. "Sam doesn't do drugs. He'd be dead by now if he tried" I informed the three cops that surrounded Sam in the small room. "What's these" he asked, catching pill bottle one of the others tossed to him.

"Found them in your pocket. Mojo. That what you kids are doing now? A little bit of Mojo?" the accusations were reasonable enough, but the fact that he was being rude, wouldn't listen to Sam at all, and seemed determined to prove Sam guilty, even if he's innocent, was uncalled for.

"Those are my dogs pain pills" Sam told him. Ron finally spoke up. "Yeah. Little Chihuahua" the cop rubbed is head with his hand.

He noticed Sam looking at his gun. He grinned. "What's that? You eye-balling my piece 50 cent? You wanna go? Make something happen. Cause I promise you, I will bust you up" he growled in Sam's face.

Sam leaned back as far as he could. "Police brutality" I muttered to Ron, who only nodded and patted my knee with his hand. Sam's next question made me laugh the whole drive home.

"Are you on drugs?"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N – So far I haven't really changed much, but I think this chapter will have some more changes.**

**Disclaimer – I do not own Transformers and have no wish to do so. That would mean were not real, and they are. Seriously. They're real.**

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><p>I went home after that. It's not like my parents noticed. Even before I went to juvie, they never cared.<p>

The next morning I was working on my motorcycle when I saw Sam on his mom's bike, chased by his Camaro. He wasn't looking where he was going, and ended up flipping off the bike and onto his back. Hard.

"Sam? That was awesome!" I tried to make light of the accident. "Yeah. It felt awesome" I started to worry. "Sam, are you okay?" He got up and said, as he was leaving, "No, I'm not okay. I'm losing my mind and getting chased by my car right now. Got to go"

I watched him rush away for a moment before getting on my motorcycle and fallowing him. I got cut off by a police car once before I kept going.

I saw Sam running for his life out of an old building . "Get back" he cried when he saw me. "Go!" He knocked me off the motorcycle, frantic. "Sam, what's wrong" he was scaring me.

"Okay, there was a monster in there, just attacked me" a giant robot came out after Sam. "There he is!" he looked at me worriedly. "Run. You have to run!" Right then the Camaro drove past us and ran into the robots legs, knocking him down before pulling up next to us and opening his door for us to get in.

"Get in the car" he pushed my in first. "Trust me" I looked Sam in the eyes. "With my life" I got into the car. He peeled out, speeding away from the killer robot. But it just transformed into a police car and came after us.

"Don't worry, he's a kick-ass driver" he told me as I started to silently hyperventilate. Finally the car stopped and turned off. "We're locked in" Sam said, trying to turn the Camaro back on. "Shh" I hissed while I watched the police car/robot drive around. "The car won't start, that means we ditched the monster, right?" Sam asked, more for himself than for me.

Suddenly the Camaro started and sped around the other car. He dropped us out and transformed into a robot as well.

"Now I know what you meant when you said he stood up" I whispered, my eyes not leaving the bot. He only nodded. We slowly stood, but got knocked back down when the evil robot launched himself at our robot. Then another, smaller robot popped out of the evil robot. When we ran, it came after us.

Sam got caught by the mini-bot. I kept running towards what looked to be a utility shed. I could still hear Sam screaming that it was going to kill him. I looked around and found a saw. Perfect.

I came out to find Sam standing, his back to the metal fence, being attacked by the mini-bot. I quickly ran over, barely noticing that Sam's pants were now gone, and hacked at him, chopping off his head.

"See? Not so tough without your head, are you?" Sam then kicked the mini-bot's head like you would kick a soccer ball. It went flying. Sam came back over to me. "Come on" we started walking. Towards what, I wasn't sure.

We slowly approached the now-transformed Camaro. "What is it? Some kind of robot, obviously, but still?" I asked, watching in awe. "Like a different, super advanced robot. Probably Japanese. Yeah, definitely Japanese"

"I don't think its Japanese" Sam started to walk closer. "What are you doing?" I asked, worried. "I don't think he wants to hurt us" I thought about how he had protected us from the other robot and nodded, stepping forward so I was next to Sam.

"I think it wants something from me" Sam was being remarkable calm about this. "What?" I was shocked. "Well, the other one was talking about my eBay page" he explained. I shook my head.

"Can you talk?" he asked the robot.

"_XM satellite radio…digital radio…broadcasting system_" different radio stations came on, almost one at a time.

"You talk through the radio" I clarified.

"_Thank you, you're beautiful. You're, you're wonderful, you're wonderful_"

"So what was that last night, what was that?" Sam asked.

"_Message from Starfleet…_ (**A/N – I couldn't clearly hear this part**) _rain down like visitors from Heaven, Hallelujah_"

"Visitors from heaven" I whispered. Louder, I asked, "What are you, like an alien or something?"

He got down and transformed back into a car. "Any more questions you want to ask?" the car asked, door open for us to get in. "He wants us to get in the car" Sam deducted. "And go where?" I asked. Sam looked at me. Really looked at me, right in my eyes. I felt like he could see into my soul.

"Fifty years from now, when you're looking back at your life, don't you want to be able to say you had the guts to get in the car?"

And so we climbed in, me holding his hand the whole time.

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><p>It was surprisingly dark in the car. "He's a pretty good driver" I said from my spot between the driver's seat and the passenger side seat where Sam was sitting. "Yeah. Why don't you sit in that seat there?" he suggested, gesturing towards the driver's seat.<p>

"I'm not gonna sit there, it's your car!" I told him.

"Maybe you should sit in my lap" I was stunned. "Why?" I asked before thinking. "Well, I have to only seat belt. Safety first" I smiled. I gently climbed onto his lap, and he brought the seat belt around both of us.

"This is something I thought you would try on Mikaela" I told him, guiltily relishing how close we were. "Naw. She's got nothing on you" we both went still. I don't think he meant to say that. Still, it gave me hope. I twisted and gently kissed his cheek, right at the corner of his mouth. We both blushed.

"Don't get me wrong, I love a good '77 Chevy Camaro, but if he's some super advanced robot, why does he turn into an old junk-yard car?" I asked.

The car jerked to a stop. "See, that doesn't work" Sam complained as we climbed out. "You see, fantastic. You pissed him off. That car is sensitive" he lectured as the car drove away. "I mean, $4,000 just drove off"

But then the car came back. But not as a '77 Camaro. "What?" Sam, and me, was stunned at the sight of the shiny, sleek, sexy yellow 2010 Chevy Camaro with black racing stripes stopping in front of us. "Hot damn"

Sam opening the door for me to climb in before rushing over to the driver's side and climbing in himself. I smiled and laughed slightly at the new car smell and the shiny black leather. "Sexy. Definitely better than any old '77 Camaro" I said.

We drove off. I have no idea where we were going. When we got to a chain-link fence gate, the car just went straight through. We both got out, wondering why we were there.

Sam came over to my side as we saw four objects that looked like meteors plummeting towards earth. Sam reached out and grabbed my hand. We both realized that it wasn't the friendly gesture it used to be, but a romantic one now. I leaned in closer to him as we watched the sky. The four things flew right over our heads.

Sam pulled me along as we ran through a field after one of the things. Out of a giant crater came a giant robot like our Camaro, but he looked slightly naked, if that was even possible.

We got back into the car and drove off again. He took us to the abandoned part of the city before stopping. We were met by a blue and red flamed Peterbilt truck, a red and yellow Hummer H2 Search and Rescue Sport Utility truck, black 2007 GMC Topkick 4x4 pickup, and silver Pontiac Solstice GXP.

With the Camaro behind us, the Peterbilt stopped in from of us and transformed into a giant robot, bigger than any of the ones we had seen so far.

I had to admit, I was shocked. But in a way, I wasn't. It was almost like I had expected this to happen. It was a weird feeling. After the Peterbilt was done transforming, the other cars transformed as well.

The robot knelt down in front of us. "Are you Samuel James Witwicky, descendant of Archibald Witwicky?" he asked.

"They know your name" I whispered, trying to hold back my laughter at the ridiculous thought of being scared.

"Yeah" Sam actually sounded unsure. "My name is Optimus Prime. We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cypertron"

"But you can call us Autobots for short" the Hummer-bot interrupted. "Autobots" Sam repeated. "What's crackin' little bitches" the Pontiac-bot said, jumping around. "My first lieutenant, designation: Jazz" the Autobots spun around and jumped onto the car behind him to sit on, saying "This looks like a cool place to kick it"

"Who calls people 'bitches' anymore" I whispered to Sam. He shushed me, listening to Optimus, who seemed to have heard me and chuckled slightly.

"What is, how did he learn to talk like that?" Sam asked, pointing to Jazz. "We've learned Earth's languages through the world-wide web" Optimus explained. I bit my tongue. There were so many different jokes…

Optimus gestured towards the bot behind us. "My weapons specialist, Ironhide" the black bot pulled out some cannons. They started glowing, looking like they were ready to fire.

"You feeling lucky, punk?"

"Easy Ironhide" Optimus said, probably sensing Sam's unease. "I just wanted to show him my cannons" Ironhide explained. "Cool" I breathed. Everyone seemed to look at me like I was crazy. "That's so awesome" I spoke a little bit louder, but not much. Ironhide chuckled. "I think I'll like the little femme" he said to no one in particular.

"Our medical officer, Ratchet" he seemed to be sniffing the air. "His pheromone level suggests he wants to mate with the female" Sam and I couldn't look at each other. Still, I felt his hand reachin for mine, ad I silenty grasped his hand. That was that. We had totally crossed the line between best friends and couple.

"You already know your guardian, Bumblebee" we looked at the Camaro-bot. "Bumblebee" Sam double-checked. Bee played some music from the radio. "_Check the rep, yeah, second to none_" he danced along with the song briefly.

"You're my guardian, huh" Bee nodded. "His vocal processors were damaged in battle" Optimus explained while Ratchet pointed a red laser-thing at Bee's neck, making him flinch.

"Poor Bee" I said in sympathy.

"I'm still working on them" Ratchet added. "Why are you here?" I asked. As cool as it was, they had to be here for a reason. "We are here for the Allspark. And we must find it before Megatron"

"Mega-what?" Sam asked. Optimus pressed something at the side of his head and projected a 3D image from his optics.

"Our planet was once a powerful empire. Peaceful and just. Until we were betrayed by Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. All who defied them were destroyed. Our war finally consumed the planet, and the Allspark was lost. Megatron fallowed it to Earth, where Captain Witwicky found him"

Sam looked surprisingly pleased. "My grandfather?"

"It was an accident that intertwined our fates. Megatron crash-landed before he could retrieve the cube. He accidentally activated his navigation system. The coordinates to the cubes location on Earth was imprinted on his glasses"

"How'd you know about his glasses" I asked them, surprised. First the Decepticons, now the Autobots.

"On eBay" was their only answer. "On eBay" Sam repeated, as if it were obvious.

"If the Decepticons find the Allspark, they will transform all of Earth's technology and build a new army" Ratchet told us. "And the human race will be extinguished" Optimus added.

"Sam Witwicky, you hold the key to the Earth's survival"

I looked at Sam and grabbed his hand so he knew I was with him every step of the way as I practically begged:

"Please tell me you still have those glasses. I'd rather not have the world end before I turn 21"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N – OK, this chapter is edited too. I hope Lindsey seems less like Mikaela now.**

**Disclaimer – No one can own the Transformers, slaver was outlawed over 100 years ago.**

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><p>Sam and I got back into Bumblebee and drove back to his house, followed by the rest of the Autobots. "I need you to stay here, alright? I need you to stay here and watch them" I nodded. "Alright" I replied as I climbed out of Bumblebee as well. "You hear what I'm saying. Five minutes" Sam left to find the glasses.<p>

Not ones to wait, the Autobots transformed and walked over to Sam's house. "No! Stop, they'll see you!" I cried, but it was useless. I rushed to fallow, trying to convince them to stop. I heard Sam screaming and then a crunching sound, followed by Optimus saying, "Oops, my bad" I giggled. It was weird hearing a grown, robotic alien saying such a childish phrase.

When I finally caught up, Sam came over to me. "I told you to watch them. I told you" I gasped for breath. "What do you expect me to do against giant alien robots that are over 100 times my size and can kill me without a thought?"

"This is bad" Sam said, looking at the destruction the Autobots were causing. We heard Mojo bark and looked over just in time to see Mojo pee on Ironhide. "No! Mojo, off the robot" Sam ran over to grab Mojo. I dug a rag out of my back pocket – I have no idea how it was still there from this morning – and quickly fallowed.

"Hold, no, no, no, easy, easy. This is Mojo" Sam explained as Ironhide turned is cannon onto Mojo. "He's a pet of mine. He's a pet. That's all. Put the guns away. Put the guns away"

It didn't seem to get through to Ironhide. "You have a rodent infestation. Shall I terminate?"

"No, no, no! It's not a rodent. This is a Chihuahua, this is my Chihuahua. We love Chihuahuas, don't we" Sam looked at me for help. "He sprayed lubricants all over my foot" Ironhide complained.

I walked over, rag in hand. "Hold still" I commanded as if he wasn't a 30ish foot giant, gun-happy robot that could squish my like a bug.

I quickly wiped away all traces of Mojo's pee. "There, all better big guy" I said, patting his foot fondly. I threw the rag on the porch. I would take care of it later.

Sam went inside with Mojo to look for the glasses. I stayed outside with the Autobots, hoping, despite all unlikeliness, that they would listen to me and I could keep them from destroying everything.

"Autobots, recon" Optimus said.

Optimus lifted me up to Sam's window. "What?" I heard him say as I climbed through. 'Time is short" was Optimus's explanation.

"They really want those glasses" I told him as he helped me into the room. "What are you doing?" he asked me. "I'm here to help" I landed on the floor, hard. "Okay" we ran farther into the room. "Please hurry" were Optimus's parting words.

"Yeah, no, no, it's definitely gone" he said after flipping through some things by his bed. "What do you mean?" I asked, scared. "The glasses were in the bag, they were in the backpack, and the backpack isn't here"

"That's not good. Sam, what are we going to do?" I asked. "Check this whole section here" he said, gesturing towards the wall I was standing by. I looked through it as he looked somewhere else. It wasn't like I hadn't seen everything in his room before.

"What now" he wondered as we looked outside his windows. The bots had all transformed into their car-forms. I sighed. It wasn't inconspicuous, but they weren't destroying everything.

"No. No, no, no. This isn't hiding. This is my backyard, not a truck stop. Aww" Sam came back and we started looking again. "Sam" I repeated his name over and over again, trying to get his attention as he quietly freaked out. "He's back"

Sam ran back to his window saying "I can't deal with this" I didn't pay attention to what Optimus told Sam, but kept looking, though I was sure they weren't in his room.

Suddenly the ground shook. I figured one of the Autobots fell. I hope Ron and Judy didn't get suspicious. Ratchet was pointing his light, as the house lights were shut off. I heard Ron yelling outside the door. Seeing as how they didn't know I was here, I ran and hid deeper in Sam's room.

I couldn't clearly hear what Sam and his parents were saying. But then they walked father in and I could hear everything. "You can't just bounce into my room, you gotta knock, you gotta communicate" Sam said, trying to get them to leave. "We knocked" his parents insisted as Sam continued. "I'm a teenager. You didn't knock, you were screaming at me, okay? This is repression right here, okay? You're ruining my youth"

"Oh for goodness sakes" Judy said, "Why are you so defensive? Were you…masturbating?"

I tried to keep myself from gagging. That wasn't a mental image I needed. Sam and Ron started screaming at Judy, and I let out a small giggle, unheard by the family.

"We saw a light" Ron insisted when that little tiff was over, wandering farther in to the room. "I don't know what it was, but we saw it" Ron wandered into Sam's en-suit bathroom, which I was totally jealous of.

The Autobots then caused another mini-quake. The lights came on again, and I hoped Sam's parents didn't see me, though I didn't know how much longer I could hide. Ron kept yelling about the yard and such.

"We heard you talking to someone Sam, we want to know who" Judy said with a note of finality in her voice, despite Sam's excuses. I decided it was time to show myself.

Ron and Judy looked at me. "Lindsey! What are you doing here? And why were you hiding?"

I looked down and forced a blush, letting Ron and Judy come to their own conclusions. "Oh!" Judy cried after a minute. "Oh, I told you Ron. I told you they would realize they were meant for each other sooner or later" she cried in happiness. Sam looked at me helplessly.

"Oh, I'm sorry you had to hear our little family discussion" Judy cried again, only slightly embarrassed. I grinned. It was kind of funny. Sam asked where his backpack was and Judy told him it was in the kitchen. I fallowed Sam into the kitchen just as he found the glasses. "I want you to distract my parents while I slip out and give these to them, okay?" but we didn't have to time to move.

We walked into see several men in suits all over the house, one grabbing the bat from Judy and talking to her, holding up a small LED light to her eyes. "What? What is this?" he asked them, just as surprised as I was. "How you doing son? Is your name Sam?" he asked with a false grin.

"Yes" the man took a step towards us. "Well, I need you to come with us" Ron and Judy stepped forward as well and protested. "Sir, I am asking, politely. Back off" he barked.

"You're not taking my son" Ron said firmly. "You gonna get rough with us" the man asked sarcastically. "No, but I am going to call the cops" Ron told him. "Because there's something fishy going on around here"

"There's something a little fishy about you, your son, you're little Taco Bell dog, and this whole operation you got going on here" the man replied.

"What operation" Ron asked indignantly. "That is what we are going to find out" the man replied, tucking the light into his pocket. Another guy walked up and started whispering to boss-man. He looked at us in surprise before looking back to the guy whispering to him.

He took something from the other guy and walked closer to us. "Son. Step forward please" Sam stepped up and boss-man held up the thing. It started beeping and boss-man glanced at Sam in shock before looking back at the thing.

"14 rads. Bingo. Tag 'em and bag 'em" he announced, walking away. The other guys in suits grabbed us and dragged us outside. "You hurt my dog, I'll kick your ass" I heard Judy shout before being shoved into a black SUV. I didn't hear anything else outside after that.

"So, uh, Ladiesman 217, that is your eBay username, right?" the guy asked. He had Sam's phone in his hand. I nodded but Sam seemed a little embarrassed and said, "Yeah. It was a typo, and I just ran with it"

"What do you make of this?" he asked, and played part of a recording Sam did when he first saw Bumblebee transform. "Is that you?" we nodded. "Last night at the station you told the officer that your car _transformed_. Enlighten me"

"Here's what I said. Cause this is a total misunderstanding. My car had been stolen, from me, from my home, but it's fine now cause it's back. It came back"

I looked at Sam. IF he wasn't careful he would blab. "He means I found it and brought it back. I mean, it's not like it could come back on its own. That's impossible" we all laughed, but we knew it was fake and forced.

"So what do you kids know about aliens, huh?" boss-man asked, abruptly ending the fake laughter. "What like a Martian? Like what, ET?"

"They don't exist" I lied firmly.

"You see this?" boss-man asked, pulling out a badge. "This is a do-whatever-I-want-and-get-away-with-it badge. I'm gonna lock you up, forever" he threatened. I had to admit I was scared, but I tried not to show it.

"Don't worry Sam. He's just pissy because he has to get back to the costume store"

"You, in the training bra. Do not test me. Especially with your friend's parole coming up" I reeled at that. No one but the police and I knew about John.

"Parole?" Sam asked. I had never told him about John.

"It's nothing" I quickly claimed. "Drug possession isn't exactly nothing" the guy just wouldn't shut up. "Remember that summer I was totally out of it and was never in town? Yeah…" I trailed off softly.

"You did drugs?" Sam asked, shocked. I shook my head. "I was in a bag place, but I never went that far. I mean, I took a smoke and everything every now and then, but that's it"

"She's got her own Juvie record to prove it" boss-man said loudly. I flinched. Juvie was a sore subject for me.

"She's a criminal. Criminals are hot" he growled, and I scrunched up my nose in disgust. I was a minor for Pete's sake!

"It would be a real shame if he had to rot in jail for the rest of his natural life" the thing that boss-man had held up to Sam started beeping like crazy, but no one seemed to notice. "It is time to talk!"

We crashed. Optimus wrapped his hands around the roof, breaking the windows, and pulling the top off of the SUV.

"You A-holes are in trouble now" Sam started slowly.

"Gentleman" I finished off, "I want to introduce you to my friend, Optimus Prime"


	5. Chapter 5

**AN – People have said that Lindsey is too much like Mikaela. I have re-written all the chapter, although there isn't much difference in the beginning. Hope this is better.**

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><p>"<em>Optimus Prime"<em>

We stared up at the giant Autobot in front of us.

"Taking the children was a bad move" Optimus told them as the other guys in suits came running and pointed their little gins at him. "Autobots, relieve them of their weapons" the other Autobots came from behind us.

Ironhide wasted no time in taking out his cannons as he yelled, "Freeze", not that it was necessary. I think the suits were stunned still at the sight of them.

Jazz must have had a magnet in his hand or something, because all of their weapons were drawn to him.

Optimus kneeled in front of us. "Hi there" boss-man greeted with a small wave. "You don't seem afraid. Are you not surprised to see us?" You could hear how curious Optimus was. "Look. There are S-Seven protocols, okay? I can't communicate with you except to tell you I can't communicate with you" boss-man told him.

"Get out of the car" Optimus nearly growled. "Alright, me, you want me" boss-man was scared. He didn't look it, but you could tell by how flustered he was acting. "Now" Optimus barked, causing boss-man and the driver to jump.

"Alright, get out get out. I'm getting out, you see?" boss-man continued to talk as we got out of the SUV. I fallowed Sam out of the SUV and used the key one of the sympathetic suits had given me to unlock Sam. "You good with hand-cuffs to now, huh?"

"No, I'm a pickpocket" I joked, but when he didn't laugh my smile fell. "Listen Sam, I would have told you" I wanted to say more, but he cut me off. "When? Why didn't you?"

"At first it was because I was locked away in Juvie. When I got home it was because I was locked in my bedroom because my parents were ashamed to have a lying little criminal for a daughter. Then it was because it was too hard to talk about. John meant almost as much to me as you do. After I felt I was finally able to talk about it, I just couldn't tell you. Your biggest worries were getting your car, getting a girlfriend, and trying to keep your parents from embarrassing you. I had just gotten back from jail-for-minors with no prospect of ever seeing the guy that let me vent and probably saved my life"

Sam stared at me, realization appearing on his face. I shook my head, and then nodded towards boss-man and the suits, silently telling him we should get over there.

"Big guys. Big guys with big guns" boss-man was saying with his hands in the air. "What is Sector Seven" Sam asked as soon as we were standing in front of him. Boss-man was silent. "Answer me"

"I'm the one that asks the questions around here not you young man" he shouted the last part in Sam's face. Not missing a beat, I asked "How did you know about the Autobots?" I asked him, and for a moment he looked confused, like he didn't know what they were called. Guess I know something he didn't know. "Where did you take my parents?" I felt a little twinge I my heart because I couldn't rightfully call them my parents, but I ignored it. This was not the time.

"I am not at liberty to discuss this" boss-man said firmly, like he still held the power. Sam started digging in boss-man's pocket. "No?" Sam asked, grabbing boss-man's badge. "Hey, you touch me, that's a federal offense"

"Oh, and kidnapping, arrest without reasonable suspicion, and entering without a warrant aren't" I said sarcastically. "Do whatever you want and get away with it badge" Sam showed boss-man his badge. I looked at it really quick. Agent Simmons. Well, now I don't have to call him boss-man anymore.

"Yeah, now he's brave all of a sudden with his big alien friends all over there" Simmons muttered as Sam and I started to walk away. Sam and I turned back. "What is Sector Seven?" he asked Simmons.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Then Bumblebee did the most hilarious thing ever. He flicked open something at his crotch, hit Simmons in the head with what looked to be a paper cup, and proceeded to pee on him!

"Bumblebee, stop lubricating the man" Optimus scolded as Simmons started to complain. Bee, regretfully, stopped. "Get that thing to stop, huh?" Simmons called out. "Bumblebee is not a thing, he is an Autobot and he is male!" I said loudly and firmly. Simmons just gave me a weird look.

* * *

><p>We had almost all the agents sit on the road, handcuffed together. "Alright Simmons" I said as Sam finished off handcuffing the other agents. I looked Simmons up and down. "Clothes. Off. Now"<p>

He looked at me confused. "Did I stutter? Take your damn clothes off"

"For what?"

"I'd like to see if you can really tell the difference between male and female, since you seemed to be having trouble earlier. And for threatening my friend" I told him.

Simmons stripped off his jacket. "Little lady, this is the beginning of the end of your life" he said, taking off his tie and ripping of his button-up shirt as well, revealing a S7 undershirt with the symbol shaped like Superman's.

I just nodded coldly and tried not to laugh. "You're a criminal" Simmons continued as Sam stood behind me. "Face the facts, it's in your gene pool" the pants came off, revealing funny looking boxers. I didn't really want to look too closely, so I just said, "Get behind the pole"

"This is such a felony, what you're doing" the only other agent standing told us as I handcuffed Simmons to the pole so his hands were in front of him on the other side of the pole.

"I will hunt you down" Simmons told us.

"Hunt you down" the other agent echoed.

"Without any remorse"

"No remorse"

Sam and I just walked away with Simmons' clothes.

Suddenly, we heard the sounds of helicopters and sirens heading towards us. "Optimus, incoming!" Ironhide called. They all went into action. "Roll out" Optimus ordered. They all transformed, sans Optimus, and left while they still could. I hope they got away.

Optimus kneeled before us, holding out his hand for us to climb on. "Up you get" he said gently. We hesitated for a moment before climbing on. Optimus stood up and let us climb onto his shoulder as the helicopters and cars approached.

He started running, as carefully as he could, away from them, avoiding the random cars and busses as best as he could. He climbed up into the bottom of the bridge over the water, well hidden. The helicopter few right under us and didn't see him.

"Easy you too" Optimus whispered, trying to keep us calm. I was trying not to shake too badly, but I wasn't doing a very good job. I slipped off of Optimus's shoulder and Sam barely grabbed my hand before I fell onto the pavement. Sam slipped as well, and was only holding onto to Optimus with one hand, both of us suspended in the air. I knew he couldn't hold on for long. "Sam, just left me go" I cried. I was so scared, but I knew we would both slip if he didn't let me go. Without my added weight he could fairly easily climb back onto Optimus.

Sam shook his head. I tried to let go, but he was holding onto me too tightly, I couldn't get out of his grip. "Sam, if you don't let me go, we'll both fall" I cried, tears streaming down my face. Sam chuckled weakly, "Maybe my hard head will crak the pavement"

"Hold on" Optimus cried, but it was fruitless. Sam and I slipped at that very moment. Optimus swung his legs over so we both landed on his foot, but we couldn't get a grip. We both continued falling.

Until Bumblebee launched himself into the air, transformed, and caught us, all within seconds. I must admit, despite my panicking, I was impressed. Or, I would be after we were all safe and I had time to calm down.

We all got up, but the helicopter wasted no time in trying to attack Bee, despite mine and Sam's cried to stop.

They were shooting what looked like harpoons attacked to thick cables at him, so that they had him tangled up. He fell. I couldn't stand it as Bee let out the closest thing to a cry he could. It was pathetic, and my heart broke.

The cars surrounded us, and we were done for. I was sobbing at his point, though Sam sounded fairly calm; as calm as he could be. He was at least coherent. "Get on the ground! Get down" several men, dressed in black armor and pointing guns at us – Us! Teenagers – came out of the cars and rushed over to us. Sam and I kneeled onto the ground.

The pushed us onto the ground and handcuffed us. I couldn't breathe, this was too much.

"Look, he's not fighting back!" Sam called, trying to draw attention to the fact that they were basically torturing a helpless Bee.

We were pulled up as Sam and I both screamed for them to stop hurtin him. He fought against the men that held us, but Sam was the only one that broke free. He ran to Bee, trying to help him, but two men subdued him and dragged him to the SUVs. I was shoved into a back seat, so I couldn't see anything else. But it didn't matter.

The next thing I knew, the world went black.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N – Oh my God, I cried as I watched Bumblebee get attacked. It was sooooooo sad.**

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><p>I woke up to find myself leaning against Sam in a helicopter, next to one of the gun-guys. Across from us was a blond woman and a big black guy who looked like he was about to wet himself.<p>

"Are you alright" Sam asked me instantly, looking worried. I nodded sleepily, but winced as I sat up. It felt like a couple of me ribs were bruised, if not broken. Sam saw this, but said nothing.

"What did they get you for?" the woman asked in an Aussie accent.

"Uh. I bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot" the guy mouth wow, probably too shocked to really speak at Sam's nonchalance. "Who knew" he shrugged, and I slightly smiled, before remembering what happened to be. I gasped and started quietly crying again. Sam grabbed my hand, the only comforting he could do right then.

The woman looked at me in concern. I shook my head. "He didn't do anything but protect us. He didn't fight them, but they tortured him anyway" I gasped.

She didn't understand, but she got the gist of it and had the decency to look sad.

I continued to silently cry, but it didn't take long for my sadness to become angry. And you did not want to see me angry.

* * *

><p>We were shoved into another black SUV and taken to what appeared to be the Hoover Dam. We walked out of the car and looked at the few, momentarily distracted by the view.<p>

We were led down the dam walk-way, to Simmons, who was now also wearing black armor and shades. I mean, really? This guy was a walking cliché.

"Hey kid. I think we got off to a bad start. Huh?" he put his hand on Sam's shoulder condescendingly. "You must be hungry. You want a latte, Ho-Ho, double venti macchiato?"

Smack!

Simmons stumbled back and the force of my punch, holding onto his bruising jaw. "You asshole! You think after watching your goons torture Bumblebee, who wasn't fighting you guys, we would be all buddy-buddy with you! How much of a bloody idiot are you! If I do not find Bee safe and unharmed when he is released, and he will be released, I will kick your ass so badly you'll be kissing his exhaust" I growled.

"I need you too to listen closely. People die here. We need to know everything you know, and we need to know it now" the guy standing beside Simmons told us.

"Ok" Sam said to my surprise. "First I'll take my car – unharmed, as Lindsey clearly stated – my parents; maybe you should write that down" Sam said quickly. "Oh, and her Juvie record" I looked at Sam in surprise. "That's gotta be gone. Like, forever"

"Come with me, we'll talk about your car" the man told us. I figured he was probably Simmons boss. "He's not a car, he's a kick-ass Autobot" I muttered, to Sam's amusement.

We followed the guy, leaving Simmons behind.

* * *

><p>We regrouped with the blond girl, her black friend, and a group of military guys. Simmons was leading us…somewhere.<p>

"Alright, here's the situation. You've all had direct contact with the NBEs" Simmons explained.

"NBE?" one of the military guys asked. "Non-Biological Extra-terrestrials, try to keep up with the acronyms" Simmons stated. I walked fast so I was walked next to that guy. "He's an asshole, huh?" I said to him. The guy looked at me in surprise, but nodded. "I'm Lindsey" I offered. "Epps. Robert Epps. What do he do to you?"

"Threatened my friend that's in jail, kidnapped me and my best friend, as well as his family, threatened to throw us both in jail, acted like a pervert towards me, gave the command to have my best friend's car/robot protector tortured even though he wasn't acting violent or threatening, and possible broke a couple of my ribs while keeping me from helping and shoving me into the SUV. As well as any possible brain damage due to the lack of oxygen that resulted in me passing out" I listed.

"He did all of that?" the guy walking by Epps asked. I nodded. "William Lennox" he introduced.

"Lindsey, and yes, he did all of that. Though I did get a good punch in. I'll do worse if he doesn't give us Bee" They chuckled.

"Bee?" Epps asked.

"Our kick-ass Autobot protector" I explained. Epps looked a little faint, but nodded. We turned our attention back to Simmons's boss, who was saying, "What you are about to see is totally classified" we were lead into a chamber where they were holding something I could only assume was Megatron.

I hoped to God I was wrong, but knew I was right.

Sam came up to me and grabbed my hand while Keller asked, "Dear God, what is this?"

"We think, when he made his approach over the North Pole our gravitational field screwed up his tolevitry (**What?**). He crashed in the ice. Probably a few thousand years ago. We shipped him here to this facility in 1934" Simmons couldn't help but add "Called NBE1"

"Sir, I don't mean to correct you on everything you think you know" I giggled at this, and Epps and Lennox smiled, "But that's Megatron. He's the leader of the Decepticons"

"He's ben in cryo-stasis since 1935" Simmons boss told us. "Your great-great-grandfather made one of the greatest discoveries in mankind"

"Fact is, you're looking at the source of the modern age. Microchip, lasers, spaceflight, cars, all reverse-engineered by studying him" Simmons said. I snorted, I severely doubt that.

"NBE1. That's what we call it"

"Well than, you're an idiot who is going to end up outsmarted by bunch of aliens who are going to enslave the Earth to rebuild their plant because you're too much of an idiot to admit you don't know as much as you think you do" I told him matter-of-factly.

"And you didn't think the United States Military might need to know that you're keeping a hostile alien robot frozen in the basement?" Keller asked Banacheck; I finally read his badge.

"Until these events we had no credible threat to National security" Banacheck defended.

"Well you got one now" Keller said. I grinned.

"So why Earth?" Lennox asked. My turn to be smarter than Simmons. "It's the Alspark"

"Alspark? What is that?" Keller asked.

"It's basically their version of God or Mother Earth. It's what created their planet and gave them life. It can turn any electronic into an Autobot or Decepticon. It's a cube-looking thing. NBE1 here, Megatron – that's what _they_ call him – is the guy that wants to enslave the human race and wants to use the cube to transform human technology to take over the universe.

"I would just like to point out that the Autobots, one of whom you are currently needlessly torturing, are the good guys that are trying to stop the Decepticons and keep Earth safe, so we would really appreciate it if you would stop torturing the guy that saved our lives, thank you very much. Next thing you know, you'll be torturing these guys for saving our country" I finally finished, pointing towards Epps and Lennox.

'Are you sure about that?" Simmons asked, ignoring my paragraph about the Autobots and Bee.

I nodded. "You guys know where it is, don't you" Sam said. Banacheck looked at him. I could tell he looked nervous at the new information, despite his impassive face. "Follow me"

He led us to a small room with a glass case in the middle. "You're about to see our crown jewel" Simmons told us. The room overlooked some cavern-looking room filled with tech-stuff and a giant cube. I instantly knew it was the Alspark everyone was looking for. "Carbon dating puts the cube somewhere around 10,000 BC. The First Seven didn't find it until 1913. They knew it was alien because of the matching hieroglyphics on the cube as well as on NBE1" Banacheck explained. "President Hoover had the dam built around it. Four football fields thick of concrete, a perfect way to hide its energy from being detected by anyone or any alien species on the outside"

I only heard all of this from the back of my mind, staring at the cube. I could almost feel it, recognize it. i jumped when Sam placed a hand on my shoulder, regaining my attention.

'Wait, back up, you said the dam hides the cube's energy," the blond, who's name I learned was Maggie, asked, "what kind exactly"

"Good question" the led us to another room with a different glad cube hook up to a bunch of tubes. "Please, step inside. They have to lock us in" I looked at Sam, suddenly a lot more nervous.

"Does that make anyone else feel kinda nervous" I asked to no one in particular.

"Has Freddy Krueger been over there or something?" I heard Epps wonder. I looked over to see a corner of the room completely torn up. "No man, Freddy Krueger has four blades, man, that's only three, that's Wolverine" the guy laughed, "Right?" We all looked at him like he was an idiot.

"That's very funny" Simmons said in a voice that contradicted his statement. The guy stopped laughing. I finally remembered his name was Glen.

"Anybody have any mechanical devises, Blackberry, keylock, cellphone?" Simmons asked briskly. Glen pulled out his phone. "I gotta phone" he tossed it to Simmons, who put it in the glass container.

"Ooh. Nokia's are real nasty. You gotta respect the Japanese. They know the way of the Samurai" Simmons said. I rolled my eyes. "Nokia's from Finland" Maggie said quietly. I snorted as Keller replied, "Yes but, you see" he couldn't seem to finish his sentence.

"We're able to take the cube radiation" Simmons said while we put our goggles on, "and funnel it into that box"

They zapped the cellphone, which instantly transformed into a tiny little robot that started freaking out and shooting at the glass. "Mean little sucker, huh?" Simmons asked.

"Aww, he's so cute" they all looked at me like I was insane. I guess I kinda was, but there was something cute about the little, gun-happy, crazy bot. He seemed to have heard me, because he launched himself towards me, but he didn't shoot or anything. He just sat there, and stared at me.

"Hi little guy" I said quietly, reaching my hand towards the box. Sam grabbed my hand before I could. "What are you doing?" he asked me. I didn't take my eyes from the bot's.

"Sam, he understands me. He hasn't had time to learn English from the internet, but he understands me" I saw Sam's eyes widen from my peripheral vision. "Let him out" I told Simmons firmly.

"Now listen here, young lady, I don't think" I looked at Keller as he started speaking, but he stopped when I looked him in the eyes. "Don't worry. He wouldn't be a problem as long as these idiots mean me, or him, no harm" I said softly.

The little was still sitting there, staring at me like I was the sun or something. I had to admit, it was kinda creepy, but also very cute.

Keller nodded to Banacheck, who nodded at Simmons, who was glaring at me. He opened the box, and immediately the little bot climbed out and headed straight for me. He climbed up my arm and settled himself on my shoulder, rubbing his head against my neck like a kitten. I laughed.

"Aw, come on Sam, he's like my own personal, mini Bee" I told him. Sam still looked hesitant, but nodded.

Everyone still looked at me like I was crazy, but oh well.

Suddenly, the lights were going crazy. "Gentlemen, they know the cube is here" Keller said as the lights flickered.

"Banacheck, what's going on" he asked. "The NBE1 hanger has lost power and the back-up generator is just not gonna cut it" we heard.

"What!" Banacheck cried.

"Do you have an arms room?" Lennox asked.

* * *

><p>"Get everyone to the NBE1 chamber now!" Banacheck called. We started racing down a corridor. "They're popping our generators"<p>

All of the military guys started going through the weapons like experts – which they are, I guess. I saw a familiar looking gun and fought the urge to grab it. I didn't know how to shoot very well, and with my luck I'd end up shooting myself in the foot.

"Shooter" Sam shot me a glance at me seemingly random word. "The bot" I gestured to my shoulder. "He needs a name. What about Shooter?" Sam thought for a moment. "I don't really think now's the best time, but sure, Shooter fits him perfectly."

"40mm saber rounds on that table" Simmons called, pointing. At least he was actually beinh helpful right now.

The lights started flickering again. "Lennox, Epps, you guys know how to take these things down, right?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"Don't worry Linds, we've done this before" Lennox called, still looking up.

Sam walked over to Simmons. "You've got to take me to my car" Simmons wouldn't look at Sam. "You gotta take me to my car, he's gonna know what to do with the cube"

"You're car, it's confiscated" Simmons dismissed.

I growled. "Then _unco_nfiscate it"

"We do not know what'll happen if we let it near this thing" Simmons growled.

"You don't know" Sam started.

"Well, maybe you know, but I don't know" Simmons said, as if only what he knew mattered.

"You just wanna sit here and see what happens" Sam asked

"I have people's lives at stake here" before Simmons could finish and I grabbed at him, but he backhanded me. I heard Maggie and Glen gasp as I fell to the ground. Shooter was on the floor, growling and pointing his guns at Simmons. But that wasn't necessary.

Lennox had Simmons pinned to one of the armored vehicles, his gun pointed at one of the guys in black as he aimed at Lennox, but one of Lennox's guys knocked him out, and soon most of the guys in black were unarmed or unconscious and all of Lennox's guys had their guns out except for Epps, who was helping Sam get me off the floor. Lennox still had a few guys pointing guns at him, but I knew he's be okay.

Shooter reluctantly put his gun away and climbed up my clothes to get back onto the shoulder, but I could tell he was ready to take his gun out at any moment.

The tiny bots loyally and protectiveness was touching.

"Woah" Banacheck said, hands up, trying to get everyone to calm down. "Drop your weapon soldier" Simmons ordered. I rolled my eyes at his audacity. "There's an alien war going on and you're going to shoot me?"

"You had no problem knocking that girl to the ground" Lennox growled.

Usually, I hated being called a girl. But if it got Simmons into more trouble, I would let them make me sound like a little nine year old dressed in pink with pigtails.

"I am ordering you under S-Seven executive jurisdiction" Simmons barked.

"S-Seven don't exist" one of Lennox's guys snapped. "Right, and we don't take orders from people that don't exist" Lennox said in Simmons's face.

"I'm gonna count to five" Simmons said as if he still held all the cards.

Lennox cocked his gun. "Well I'm gonna count to three" he pointed his gun at Simmons's heart.

"Simmons" Keller called.

"Yes sir?"

"I'd do what he says. Losing's not really an option for these guys" I smiled at that comment. I really loved these military guys.

Simmons slowly nodded. "Alright. Okay. You wanna lay the fate of the word on the kids Camaro, that's cool"

"He's not just a Camaro" I said. Sam and I shared a look, grinning. "He's a kick-ass driver"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N – Two or three chapters, I think. Then I'll be done. Maybe more, maybe less. We'll see.**

**Disclaimer – I do not own Transformers. I don't even really own Shooter. Well, I kinda do. I do not own him up to the point where he was supposed to die and I let him live. Then he became mine.**

* * *

><p>We entered the chamber where I could clearly heard Bee's pain-filled cried. I cried out, filled with the pain I could only imagine he was feeling. "Lindsey!" Sam called in panic when I stumbled. "What's wrong?" Lennox asked. "Bee" I gasped. "I can feel Bee"<p>

They shared a worried look but didn't say anything as the helped me us and took me to where the rest of the group was standing.

Sam ran over to Bee, trying to get them to stop, screaming. "No, no, stop!" Banacheck ordered the goons. "Let him go!" Sam cried. Suddenly, Bee and I screamed in agonizing pain at the same time, his an echoingly hollow sound, mine shrill and loud. Lennox set me down gently and I curled up into a ball. Shooter stroked my cheek, helpless.

Finally, they stopped hurting Bee, and I slowly uncurled myself. "You okay?" Sam asked him. "They didn't hurt you, right?" I wanted to growl at him, I could feel Bee's pain, but that would hurt too much.

I couldn't see what Bee was doing, but I heard everyone's silent nervousness. "Listen to me. The cube is here, the Decepticons are coming" Sam told him. "No, don't worry about them, they're okay" I tried to stand as Sam talked to Bee. I stumbled as I walked over to them, still in pain. "Just back up" I heard Sam tell them as I leaned on him.

"Bee. I know they hurt you, I can _feel_ how much you hurt. But, like Optimus said, we're a young, stupid, reckless race. But there are people who understand and we're in charge now. The Decepticons are coming; we need to get to the Alspark. Now"

Bee looked at me, and it was like he was seeing me the first time. I had this strange connecting with the Autobots, why was I so different? Why was I so empathetic towards them?

Bee nodded.

* * *

><p>We raced to the cube. It was huge, much bigger than Bee. Bee reached out and simply touched it. "Okay. Here we go, he's doing something" Epps said. I smiled. I could feel the power of the cube, more intensely than I'm sure Sam could. It felt like a heart. It was thrummed to the beat of my heart.<p>

That's kinda strange, but also kinda cool.

The cube folded in on itself and became small enough for Bee to hold in his palm.

"_message from Starfleet, captain…let's get to it_" Bee replayed to us.

"He's right, we're screwed with Megatron in the other hanger" Lennox said, "Mission City's 22 miles away, we're gonna sneak that cube outta here and we're gonna hide it somewhere in the city"

"Good, right" Keller agreed. "And we cannot make a stand without the air force" Lennox added. "This place must have some kinda radio link" Keller asked Simmons. "Short wave, CB"

"Yes" Simmons cried.

"Sir, you gotta find some way to get word out to them" Lennox ordered. "How are we going to be able to tell the difference?" I asked. They looked at me. "Well, these guys can scan any kind of vehicle and become its exact copy. I'm sure there are several Decepticons that have already copied military vehicles to get past our securities. And they have holograms, so it' not like we can just see if they have a driver or not"

"We'll have to do our best and hope we can tell the difference" Lennox said. "Let's move"

"In the alien archives" Keller and Simmons were still talking, but Bee, Sam, and I followed Lennox and his team.

"Sam, Lindsey, get in the car" Lennox called as Bee transformed. Lennox kept getting orders, something about radios, but we were getting into Bee and speeding off, so I couldn't hear him.

We drove away from the dam, Lennox and his guys following us. "Cube's okay?" Sam asked. "Yeah, don't worry" I said, putting the seatbelt around it so it wouldn't slide around.

I was freaking out slightly. Shooter was standing on the steering wheel. "Bee, this is Shooter. He used to be some guys cellphone, but I saved his life. So, he's kinda mine now" I said quickly as a quick introduction.

"_Whatever you say little lady_" came from his radio. I smiled.

"There's Optimus" Sam pointed. And it was. Optimus and the others were heading the opposite direction we were. But they spun around and started following us. "Don't worry, they're the good guys" I radioed Lennox.

We were driving down the freeway when Sam suddenly said "No, no, no, no!"

"What?" I asked, thinking it was Megatron.

"It's the same cop" Sam told me. "You mean the one that tried to kill us for your eBay page?" I asked. Sam nodded, chanting "Block him" the Autobots seemed to get the message and was trying to block him from us.

Optimus and a Decepticon transformed and started fighting on the freeway. I didn't want to think of how many people were dead from their fight. Sam and I were helpless and Bee drove on.

We were in Mission City, and Lennox got short wave radios. Sam and I were outside with everyone, trying to make contact with the air force, hoping it wasn't a Decepticon. More like praying.

The Autobots transformed, trying to protect everyone from Starscream, whoever that is. We were slammed to the ground by a blast. I saw Sam lying across from me and reached for him. I knew we could very well die today, and I didn't want to go without seeing him. We clasped hands and stared at each other, in our own little world.

"Anybody hurt!" someone yelled, snapping us out of it. We got up, and the area was strangely silent. I didn't like it.

"Bee!" I cried suddenly, falling. "Your legs" Sam cried. Bee's legs were crushed. He had gotten them crushed protecting us. I cried, it's all I seemed to be able to do these past few days. My god, it's only been two days. It feels like forever.

"Bee!" I cried again. He looked at me sadly, and I felt something click. Suddenly, I couldn't feel Bee's pain anymore. "Bee? Bee! What did you do?" I asked. Then I realized someone was missing, and even though I was frantic about not being able to feel Bee anymore, I couldn't dwell on it now. "Shooter!" Shooter came rushing out from under the rubble, seeming perfectly fine, and went to Bee quickly, giving him the only support the tiny bot could, before scuttling over to me.

Bee seemed to appreciate it, though, and I was glad he didn't shun Shooter.

"Back, back, back, back, back" Sam chanting, making the car behind us – I had no idea if it was a real car or one of the Autobots – scoot back for Bee. "You alright?" Sam asked. I realize why he always asked this. He knew that we weren't alright, but he needed reassurance that we weren't dying. He needed to know he wouldn't be left alone.

"Please get up. Bumble, get up" Sam pleaded. "Ratchet!" I screamed.

Suddenly, there was the sound of a tank shooting at us. "Another one!" I cried in aggravation. "they're like cockroaches" no one laughed or smiled, but I understood. I mean, we are in a life-or-death, save-the-world situation, after all.

The tank was mercilessly rolling over cars and people fled, although they were stupid about it. They ran _in front_ of him. I mean, really?

It was chaos and I had no idea what to do but watch helplessly as Autobots and human alike fought back.

Sam started running. I was about to follow him when I saw the tow truck across the street, unharmed. An idea struck me.

I ran across the people and towards the truck. It probably wasn't the best solution right now, but we're in a war-zone, and it was the best I had.

I didn't know how to hotwire a truck, but Shooter seemed to read my mind. He sent a spark through a couple of wires, and suddenly the truck was on. I quickly climbed in and brought it over to Bee as Shooter climbed into my shirt and transformed. I climbed out and told Sam, "Help me get him on"

We got Bee hook up as Lennox came running. "Sam, where's the cube?"

"Right there" Sam pointed. I kept wrapping the chained around bee and found myself very glad he didn't have a nervous system like ours, or a sensitive skin.

I tried to focus on Bee, but something was up with Lennox and I had to watch, in case he needed help. "Captain, get those black ops here!" I heard him shout as he ran around us and surveyed another part of the city. I pulled on the cables to make sure they were hooked when Lennox came running back.

"Okay. I can't leave my guys back there, so here, take this flare" he handed Sam a dark flare. "There's a tall white building with statues on top, go up to the roof. Set the flare, signal the chopper…"

San was shaking his head. "I can't do this!"

Lennox grabbed his collar and yanked him closer. "Listen to me, you're a soldier now. Alright, I need you to take this cube, get it into military hands while we hold them off. Or a lot of people are going to die" he shoved the flare and the cube into Sam's arms. "You gotta go" Lennox said, trying to shove me away.

I shook my head. "No, I'm not leaving" he kept insisting, so I had to practically yell "I'm not leaving Bumblebee" he went silent and looked at me. "Sam" Ironhide said. "We will protect you" Sam nodded.

I walked up to Sam. "You can do this. I know you can. I have faith in you" I didn't even give him a chance to speak, I slammed my lips onto his. He froze for a moment in shock, but then he was kissing me back just as hard. I pulled away, gasping, after a while. "I'm really glad I got into that car with you"

I jogged back over to the tow truck. "Sam, get over to the building" Ironhide called as I ran. I heard the faint call of "Decepticons attack" as I finished hooking up Bumblebee. "Linds, get that tow truck out of here" one of Lennox's men called.

"Shut up!" was all I said as I fastened the last hook. "Get out of here, now!" Lennox yelled.

I got into the truck and drove away. I knew I needed to get Bumblebee to safety. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't leave all of those people to die while I ran and hid. I couldn't leave Ironhide and Ratchet. I couldn't leave Lennox and Epps. I couldn't leave Optimus.

I couldn't leave Sam.

I knew what I had to do. Tears were streaming down my face, but I could still see enough to drive. I looked at Bee, who was staring at me curiously.

I pulled out of the alley like a bat out of Hell. I drove until I was in the middle of the street and stopped, but only to say. "Hey Bee!" he was still looking at me, but nodded. "You remember Sam saying you're a kick-ass driver?" he nodded again. "Well, I am too. You're shooting"

With that, I threw the thing into reverse and sped straight down the road as Bee shot. My neck was getting stiff from looking over my shoulder, but I ignored it. It was a small price to pay. Eventually, we crashed into a building. I caught my breath before getting out. I smile at Bee's proud smile and we high-fived. "Nice job" I said as I passed by.

I walked over to the soldiers, who just looked at me. I arched my eyebrow. "You gotta a problem?" I think they would have chuckled if we weren't in the middle of a war-zone. Despite this, they still smiled and shook their heads before pulling me into the, fairly exposed, shelter.

We were hiding. After a while, I heard the sounds of battle stop. I waiting, just incase, but the silence continued. I jumped into the tow truck and drove Bee and I down to where I saw Sam with all the other Autobots…except Jazz. Where was he?

I hopped out and went to stand by Bee after stopping. Sam and I shared a smile, and I blushed.

"Prime. We couldn't save him" Ironhide said as he handed Optimus two pieces. I sucked in a breath when I realized who it must be.

"Oh, Jazz" Optimus looked to the crowd. "We lost a great comrade, but gained new ones. Thank you, all of you, you honor us with your bravery"

"Permission to speak, sir" I heard an unfamiliar Autobot voice say. I whirled around to look at Bumblebee, the only bot I had never heard speak. "Permission granted, old friend" Optimus said happily.

"You speak now!" Sam called in shock.

"I wish to stay with the boy" Bumblebee requested. I smiled at that. Bumblebee was nice to have around.

"If that is his choice" Optimus said diplomatically. Sam and I shared a look, and he smiled at my face-splitting grin and enthusiastic nodding. Shooter, who had transformered and climbed back onto my shoulder, was also nodding wildly.

"Yes" was all he said in answer.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N – I think I'm going to do one more chapter after this. A kind of filler before I start the sequel.**

**Disclaimer – I do not own Transformers.**

* * *

><p>After it was all over, I approached Lennox and Epps. "You guys are not allowed to just disappear on us now" I said firmly. They both smiled at me. I handed them two pieces of paper, one each. "What's this?" Epps asked as Lennox looked at the numbers.<p>

"My cellphone number. Sam and I are going to throw a party, a kinda thank-God-we-saved-the-world thing, and everyone is coming. The Autobots, Maggie, Glenn, Keller, so you guys need to come, and bring your families. Lennox, if I don't meet your baby girl, I'm going to be pissed" I said, matter-of-factly.

"How did you know I had a little girl?" he asked me in wonder. I smiled. "Because of how you treated me. You had to be a daddy" They both nodded and promised to stay in touch.

* * *

><p>Sam and I were lounging on top of Bee's hood a few days later. We were in a fairly deserted area, not counting the Autobots, and shamelessly making out. Not that it matter if we were at his house, as both Judy and Ron loved me, but some privacy was nice.<p>

* * *

><p>Judy and Ron ate up all the media attention. Lennox was reunited with his wife and met his daughter for the first time. And we all lived happily ever after.<p>

But who ever said life was easy?

_With the Alspark gone, we cannot return life to our planet. And fate has yielded its reward. A new world to call Home. We live among its people now, hiding in plain sight. But watching over them in secret. Waiting, protecting. I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are worlds apart, like us, there's more to them than meets the eye. I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here, we are waiting._


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N – I have decided, instead of writing a sequel, to write all three movies in one story. So expect fillers.**

* * *

><p>We were all gathered in a giant clearing, the only space big enough and private enough for the Autobots to be in bipedal mode around us. We had two (count 'em, two!) barbeques going, four propane tanks, and three large tables covered in food. It may seem like a lot, but when you have three Witwicky's, around a dozen military guys, Will's wife and daughter, the Secretary of Defense and his family, Maggie, Glen, and me all in the same party, it almost wasn't enough!<p>

We had a giant stereo going so none of the Autobots had to use theirs, and the party had been going on long enough that everyone had broken into small groups.

Ron, Keller, Will, Epps, Glen, Ratchet, and Optimus were talking off to the side, while Ironhide was showing off his cool weaponry to the other soldiers.

Sarah, Will's wife, and their daughter Annabelle were talking with Judy and Maggie, as well as Keller's wife and two young daughters.

Sam, Bee, and I were off by ourselves, simply talking, sometimes shoving each other around.

All in all, it was nice. We mingled and talked, teased and shoved each other, and it was like we were one, huge family.

I marveled over how one crazy, disastrous event could bring so many people together. It was amazing.

"Something on your mind, Linds?" Sam asked me, bringing my attention back to Earth. I smiled. "Just thinking about how if none of this had happened, we never would have met all of these people. It's only been a short time, but I can't imagine not having Will, Sarah, Annabelle, Epps, or the Autobots in our lives" I said.

Sam nodded. "I know what you mean. If none of this had happened, I don't think I would have had the guts to ask you out" I smiled and we shared a brief kiss.

"And we can't forget the amazing Bumblebee" I said loudly, making Bumblebee respond by playing the sound of a crowd cheering over his radio. Bee's voice worked, but if he used it too much his vocal cord would fry, so he used the radio the majority of the time.

We smiled and looked around. "It's funny. We all saved the word from mass destruction, several people saw us in Mission City, and yet no one really knows" I mused.

Sam snorted. "I'm kinda glad. I'm sure fifteen minutes of fame would have been awesome, but I don't think it would have stopped if everyone knew the truth. And I'd rather not share my business with everyone" he said, nuzzling my neck to make a point. I laughed and pushed him away slightly.

"I'm gonna steal Annabelle" I said, hopping up and going over to the women. "Why hello Lindsey, how are you guys doing?" Sarah asked me. I smiled. "Just fine Sarah. I was wondering if I could kidnap a certain little girl" I said, smiling at Anna, who was reaching towards me.

Sarah laughed again. "Well, it seems like you'll be getting your way. She's really grown fond of you" I swiftly picked Anna up and set her on my hip like I'd been doing it for years, instead of weeks.

"Well, I love having her. Anytime you need a babysitter, I'm available" I assured her.

This was our life now. For the next two years, we often got together. Sam and I were nearly inseparable, though that's not unusual, and Bee was almost always with us. More Autobots joined the team, and the seemingly endless supply of Decepticons kept everyone busy, but all in all, life was good.

* * *

><p>"Optimus, may I speak with you…privately?" The party was pretty much over and I had some things on my mind. Well, on thing really, and I'm pretty sure he's the only one that can answer my question.<p>

"Of course, young one. What is on your mind?" Optimus had this way of sounding so ancient, yet so young at the same time. It was truly mind-boggling.

"It's just…After I first met you guys, whenever one of you was in pain or something, I could feel it. It was like, whatever was happening to you, was happening to me. It was mostly Bumblebee, obviously, but it made me wonder: why?" I asked.

Optimus looked thoughtful. "And it is only with our kind you feel this way?" he clarified. I nodded "Only with Autobots" I added. "Well, I cannot think of a reason other than you are empathetic towards our kind" I nodded, but there was still something bothering me.

"During the Battle of Mission City, something happened when Bee lost his legs. It was like, before I could feel his pain, he cut me off. I couldn't feel him anymore. But it wasn't just him. I couldn't feel any of you. I didn't even know Jazz had died until Ironhide brought back his pieces" I explained. It was bugging me.

Optimus looked thoughtful. "It is possible that your empathy link was only temporary; something to help you sympathize with our race more" Optimus hypothesized. I shrugged. "It was odd, though. I think it was even before Bee got hurt. It was like, as soon as I touched the cube…and then, I could feel it thrumming, like your sparks. But its rhythm matched my heart-beat"

Optimus's optics widened. "I believe that your destiny is not quite through yet, Lindsey" he predicted.

I looked up at him, and I could feel the foreshadowing in my words.

"I don't think it will even be over"


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N – Sorry for some of the lines that Lindsey steals from Mikaela. But some of them I like too much to scrap or change.**

**Disclaimer – I do not own Transformers.**

* * *

><p><em>Earth, birthplace of the human race, a species much like our own, capable of great compassion and great violence. For in our quest to protect the humans, a deeper revelation dawns. Our worlds have met before.<em>

_For the last two years, an advance team of new Autobots has taken refuge here under my command. Together, we form an alliance with the humans, a secret but brave squad of soldiers. A classified strike team called NEST. We hunt for what remains of our Decepticon foes hiding in difference countries around the globe._

I had been so excited when I had learned that Sam had been accepted into Princeton. I was kinda disappointed I hadn't been, but I was planning on going to the Community Collage in a couple months. Until then, I was house-sitting for Judy and Ron as they went on vacation.

"Come on, let's go! All hands on deck!" Ron called. We were helping Sam pack up his things and move into his dorm today. It kinda sucked, because I was so used to us being together every day, but I didn't want to go to Princeton. I could have, because of the part I had played in Mission City, but I wasn't really Princeton material.

"Frankie, Mojo, out!" did I forget to mention the Witwicky's got another dog? "Come on, kiddo, we're on a schedule" I giggled as Ron rushed Sam. He really wanted Sam's room for than home theater.

"Slow down, Dad. Why are you in such a hurry to get rid of me, huh? Did you rent the room out?" Sam asked as we carried his boxes to the car – not Bumblebee. "No, I got other idea for your room" Ron told him.

"Yeah, a home theater, with surround sound" I remarked as I passed both of them with a tall stack of boxes. Shooter was in Sam's room, picking up the small things we couldn't reach or notice and setting them where we could grab them.

"Oh, here, Lindsey, let me help with that" Sam said, grabbing the top two boxes, leaving me with only one. I smiled at him. "Thanks" I said, kissing his cheek.

We stashed the boxes in the car and went back inside for more. As we passed, Sam and I found Judy crying. He sent me a pleading look, but I shook my head. "Your mom" I muttered before going up to his room.

I looked around the nearly empty room, and a feeling of sadness rushed through me. I swallowed hard. I didn't want Sam to go. Shooter, sensing my mood, scurried over to me and nestled himself in the crook of my neck and shoulder, his favorite perch.

I was going to be alone for a month, and even after that it'll only be the Witwicky's, not Sam. My parents had kicked me out; I didn't have anywhere else to go. Only Bumblebee knew. He was the one that picked me up from hope and helped me hid all of my stuff in the Witwicky's garage, not that I had that much in the first place.

Because I couldn't tell them. I don't know why, but every time I tried, no words would come out.

I shook my head. I could deal. I would.

**3****rd**** POV**

"What are you talking about, Dad?" Sam followed his father out of the house with another box.

"There's gonna be a lot of women there" Ron said loudly. Sam glanced at his window, hoping Lindsey wouldn't hear his dad. He knew how sensitive she was about their relationship. He felt bad for how she had to suffer over his obsession with Mikaela Banes.

"Yeah, well, I'm a one-woman kind of guy" Sam said firmly. He had no plans of leaving Lindsey, ever.

"Look, Lindsey's the greatest, and your mom and I both love her, but you gotta give each other room to grow, okay? You two have been best friends for _years_! You're no different than any other couple your age" Ron explained.

"Except we discovered an alien race together" Sam pointed out. "And she adopted a mini-robot that thinks she's his mother" Sam added as an after-thought, thinking of Shooter. "Ha. How long you gonna be riding that scooter" he scoffed, as if it was no big deal as he walked away.

Sam was actually kinda fond of Shooter. It had taken the little bot some time to warm up to him, but now Shooter thought of Sam as his father, the same way he thought of Lindsey as his mother. It was a kinda nice feeling.

"Dad, listen, I know what the odds are. We're the exception, okay?" Sam insisted as he followed his father. "Wait a second. Oh, who could that be?" Sam showed his dad his phone, even though he was kinda confused on why Lindsey was calling him, because she was just in his room.

"In two weeks, it could be Muffy" Ron dismissed.

San answered his phone. "Hey beautiful. Why are you calling me from my room?"

"I am sitting your room close to tears, staring at the infamous D-Day shirt. Come comfort your girlfriend" Sam smiled at Lindsey, though he was kinda worried when she said she was close to tears. "Be right up"

Sam ran to his room and found Lindsey sitting on his bed, staring into his closet.

"Hey" he wrapped his arms around her, making Shooter scuttle to her lap, and she leaned her head against his shoulder. "Hi" she replied quietly. "You know, you can come with me. They have cheap apartment near campus"

Lindsey smiled sadly. "I can't. Not only do I need to house-sit for your parents, John's getting out of prison. I'm gonna help him clean out his apartment and check into a post-re-hab clinic" she explained.

"John, the reason you went to Juvie" Sam remembered when Simmons had first taken them, two years ago. She nodded. "He's clean now, but he needs to get back on his feet. And then I need to find a place to stay permanently" Lindsey said absentmindedly. Shooter cooed sadly.

"Wait, why do you need to find a new place to stay?" Sam asked, moving so he was kneeling in front of her. Lindsey bit her lip. "My parents kicked me out" she mumbled. Sam cursed. "Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked.

Lindsey shrugged. "You were so excited about collage and between helping you, baby-sitting Annabelle, and helping Maggie move, I've always had a place to sleep" she said.

Sam sighed. "Here" he got up and pulled the D-Day shirt of the hanger and handed it to her. But as he was handing it to her, something dropped. "What?" Sam muttered, kneeling back down and grabbing it.

"Is that…" Lindsey trailed off. Sam nodded.

"A sliver of the cube. It must have gotten stuck on my shirt"

**Back to Lindsey's POV**

There was a suddenly spark and Sam dropped the sliver in alarm. Before I could grab it, the liver melted through the floor and landed somewhere in the kitchen. "Crap!" I cried, knowing what would happen.

"Ah! There's a fire!" Sam tried to stamp it out, and then ran from his room. "Sam!" I cried, but he didn't reply. "Dad, we gotta fire" Sam cried as he ran. He grabbed the extinguisher and ran back into his room to extinguish the fire.

"Fire!" he cried again.

When that didn't work, he dumped a bottle of water over the hole. Finally the fire was taken care of. I grabbed Shooter and we both headed for the door. But when Sam opened it…

"Die!" a ton of itty-bitty Decepticons, about Shooter's size, started shooting at us. Shooter growled and started shooting back to defend Sam and I, which was sweet, but didn't do much good against the dozen-or-so Decepticons.

Sam fell backwards and I stumbled back as they invaded his room. I shrieked as they shot, though their shots didn't hurt really.

But they were destroying his room. We jumped through one of his open windows, onto the awning that covered the porch. Sam made sure I was in front of him, and Shooter had stopped shooting, because he couldn't do so without hitting one of us.

"What is all the racket?" Ron yelled at us from below. "Decepticons!" I shrieked as Sam and I jumped. It's a good thing it takes a lot to dent Shooter.

Ran and Sam both crawled, for we were all on our hands and knees, to the new fountain, and sat behind it. I ran around the corner of the house so I was out of the current range of shooting. "What was that?" Ron asked.

"The whole kitchen" I shouted to him.

"Bumblebee…Oh, my…" Ron suggested.

"BUMBLEBEE!" Sam screamed.

Without hesitation, Bumblebee drove through the garage wall and transformed. He started shooting at the little Decepticons, one hit killing one bot. But, he did hit the house. I think what's left of Sam's room is destroyed.

I heard Judy running from the house screaming. I peeked over and saw her running with what looked like pot lids covering her head. It was a semi-smart idea, until her head collided with one of the hanging planets, knocking her down.

"911" Ron called, getting up and running into the house.

"Bumblebee" Sam called. "Get in the garage. Go!" I stared at Sam incredulously as he pointed at the garage. I could see his point, but he should be nicer about it. "What the freak just happened?" Judy cried.

I approached them from my corner. "Bumblebee, what Sam means is: you have to stay hidden. We just had a major battle in the middle of a suburban neighborhood in broad daylight. It's too exposed. And if we have a Camaro parked in the middle of our newly destroyed yard that does seem touched, it'll get suspicious" I explained.

Bee looked down sadly, but went back into the garage as Judy freaked out.

"Firemen! Fire fighters, over here!" Judy was screaming as she ran out front. "Dogs out! Get the dogs out!" Ron cried, carrying a garden hose.

"Sam" he looked at me. "The sliver" his eyes widened and he ran for the house. I looked down at Shooter, who was sulking in my hands.

"Aww, my precious sweetspark. I'm sorry you didn't get to fight those nasty Decepticons" I cooed. That seemed to make him feel a little better, but he was still pouting. "Shooter, I don't wanna let you go. You're my little bot, and you and Sam mean the world to me"

Shooter gave a mini-robot equivalent of a sigh and stopped pouting. He nodded and climbed into my pocket, transforming.

It was kinda cool having a robot for a phone. I don't have to press any buttons.

Sam came running back outside to where I was still standing by the garage. "Listen, I need you to take the Cube sliver and keep it safe. Just take it" I nodded silently and took the sliver, stuffing it into the pocket opposite Shooter.

"Sam Witwicky?" Judy approached, looking awfully mad.

"Yes mom"

"A word with you. Hi, Lindsey, I have a bald spot" Judy showed me the back of her head, where there was a tiny bald pot amidst her thick, healthy hair. "From a waffle iron. When you go, he goes. I cannot live with a psychotic alien in my garage" Judy ranted, a little too loudly.

"He's not psychotic" I tried to tell her, but Sam was pulling me to the garage.

We walked in to Bee hitting himself in the head. If he could talk, he would probably be chanting "_stupid, stupid, stupid_" he probably was chanting it in his head.

"Yeah, you know you're in trouble"

"Sam" I scolded, but didn't say anything else.

"Bee, I want to talk to you about the collage thing, okay?" Sam called, wiping his hand on a random rag I kept lying around when I wanted to clean Bee. "_I'm so excited and I just can't hide it_" Bee's radio sand as he danced around happily.

"Hey, I'm not taking you with me" that kinda worried me. Sam still played a big part in the Cybertronian war, and there were still Decepticons out there, wanting revenge. Bee lost his happy look and slouched down sadly, with a groan.

"I'm gonna go outside, okay?" I told him gently. I wanted to be there, but this was a conversation Sam needed to have with Bee in private.

I went outside and pulled Shooter out of my pocket. "I have a present for you little bot" I cooed. Shooter transformed and hopped up and down happily. I laughed and pulled out the little custom-made cellphone carrier Maggie and I had made for him. "it's like a cross between a cellphone cover, a purse, and a car" I explained.

"As a cellphone, it's just like a bulky slip cover with a strap. If you wanna transform, I open the zipper and it's a purse so you don't have to be cramped in my pocket all the time. But it has wheel, an engine, and steering, so if something happens, like Mission City, you can drive around and I can worry less"

Shooter climbed into the Autobot blue case happily and quickly went into stasis, which I learned was Cybertronian for sleep.

Sam came out and walked over to me. I set the case down as his set his hands on my hips, pulling me closer. We were inches away now. "So, you think you can make it through those East Coast winters without me?" I teased.

"You are the best thing that ever happened to me" Sam said in way of reply. "Including discovering an alien race and saving the world?" I asked, biting my lip. "Most definitely. And I'll do anything for you"

"And" I prompted. No, we haven't said 'I love you' yet. I wanted him to say it first. I wasn't quite ready to but my heart on the line, even though it was unlikely he'd break it. He hadn't said it yet, so that possibility was still there.

"I…adore you" he tried. I flinched. "Sam" I sighed. "What? It's the same as the other word" I swallowed hard. "It's not the same though, Sam"

"Don't force me to, Linds" force. Wow. "Plus, you haven't said it either. So don't get mad at me for not saying it" Sam ranted.

"Sam, I've been hiding my feelings for you for years. Can you imagine what that's one to me? I'm not secure enough to say it first" I tried not to cry. "I don't want you to tuck tail and run"

"Girls run to. Especially girls like you, with options. You have just as many guys after you as Mikaela Banes and those other girls" Sam said.

"So, this is all a plan to keep my interested?" I asked, feeling a little better.

"It can be"

"It's working" I smiled.

"can I have a kiss?" he asked. I leaned into him and kissed his softly, wrapping my arms around his waist. "We're going to make it work, I promise" he told me.

"Don't say good-bye yet, I'm still coming to the dorms with you, remember?" I laughed. He chuckled and grabbed my hand, pulling me into the car with him. I pulled away to grab Shooter's bag, and then hopped into the car next to him.

**3****rd**** POV**

What Lindsey didn't notice was the Decepticon RC car. Wheelie scanned the girl as she went into the car. He noticed a mini bot, but he also saw the shard. He had overheard their conversation and knew she would be coming back, alone. So he pulled into the house and waited, making sure not to alarm to Auto-scum in the garage.


	11. Chapter 11

**How many people are mad that I didn't send Lindaey to Princeton? I'm just curious. I'm doing a ton of editing (date: October 25, 2012) and so I'm trying to make sure that some of the things I mention about Lindsey stick around, bcause I have a problem with mentioning something early on and then never montioning it again in a story.**

* * *

><p><strong>Lindsey's POV<strong>

"Oh my gosh! Look at this place" Judy gushed. We had parked the car and had all gotten out, looking around Sam's new home for the next four years. "I feel smarter already. Ron, can you smell it?"

"Yeah, smells like $40,000 a year" Ron grumbled. I laughed as Sam and I each carried a bag, Shooter case on my shoulder. "Remember Shooter, you cannot transform here what-so-ever without my say-so" I murmured again. He had woken up while we were in the car.

"Oh, hey cheapo!" Judy snapped. I smiled.

"Hey, ah, go ahead. We'll, ah, get the rest of your stuff. Just go ahead and check out your room" Ron said. "Yeah, go" Judy added.

I grabbed the box out of his hands and kissed his cheek. "You go ahead, I'll grab a few more boxes" I told him.

I walked into the room where I was hearing Sam's voice, after grabbing a few more boxes, to hear his roommate say, "You a techie?"

I laughed as I entered the room. "Sam, a techie? Yeah right" Sam rolled his eyes at me and took the top box from me (this time I was only carrying two).

"Thanks Linds" He muttered. I smiled.

"Who's this" the other eye eyed me up and down. "This is Lindsey. My girlfriend" Sam introduced after setting his box down and taking the other one from me.

"Nice to meet you" I said, extending my hand to shake his. He took mine and shook. "Leonardo Ponce de Deon Spitz" was all he said.

"You a techie?' he asked me. I shrugged. "Not really, but I like techie stuff" I replied. Leo nodded. "Sweet" he said as Sam straightened himself. "Sharsky, Fassbinder, where we at?" he walked through a door connecting their room to another one, filled with computers and other electronic stuff.

"Server's almost online, Leo" on guy said.

"Network's up and running" the other guy told Leo.

"Beautiful, that's what I like to hear" Leo said. "That's Sharsky" he pointed to the black guy in the corner, "that's Fassbinder" he pointed to a grungy looking dude with long hair and a hat, "my IT gurus"

"Wow, a chick" Fassbinder gasped. I rolled my eyes. "I'm glad you were never that pathetic" I told Sam, grabbing his hand.

"Anyway, Welcome to my empire, " Leo finished. "That's me, I'm sure you've heard of it" I think he was more desperate than cocky.

"No, I haven't" Sam told him bluntly, making me snort. I felt Shooter twitch in my bag and slowly placed a calming hand over his case. "Well, that sucks" Fassbinder muttered.

"What is all this for?' Sam asked suddenly. "See where I'm going, bro. Look, call me gross, I want to be a baby billionaire" Leo told him. I looked him up and down. "I think you're a little old to be a baby" I told him. Leo shot me a look.

He held up a calendar in each hand. "Kitten calendars. That's where I started. Look at me now. Hot to have dreams, bro"

"Leo! We got some brand-new Shanghai vid" Fassbinder called. Shanghai. That's where Lennox told me the Autobots were going. Well, Sarah told me. I had gotten really close with the Lennoxs' and so Will kept me in the loop.

"Post it, baby. Go, go, go! FTJ! FTJ!" Leo jumped. That's when I noticed all the pictured of girls on the walls. Creeeeeeepy.

"What's 'FTJ?'" Sam asked, leaning down to where Leo was staring at a computer screen. "'Fuel the Jet'" Leo explained. "Fuel the jet, bro" I didn't like the hand motions Leo was using, or how he said bro all the time.

"FTJ, FTJ, FTJ, legit" Sharsky chanted. We watched the video of the Autobots hunting the Decepticon. Crap. This could _not_ get out!

"Did you see that? Did you see that?" Fassbinder fussed. "Look at this. Half of Shanghai gets wrecked and China says 'gas leak'. Don't believe the hype, bro" Leo explained. I flinched. Will had come home complaining about how Galloway, the new liaison, had made a big deal about that.

"Just like the alien robots in LA two years ago that everyone covered up" crap. Mission City, the day I never wished happened. That was a bad day.

Sam and I shared a slightly panicked look.

"Yeah, I saw these robots, and they did this, like, firing thing and they came down and toasted this woman, and she was like" I tried to keep myself from crying as Fassbinder raved. I remembered the Decepticon doing that. Sam wrapped a comforting arm around me and interrupted.

"It looks fake to me"

"Dude, it's not fake" Fassbinder cried. "The internet is pure truth. Video doesn't lie"

"So if I put on the internet that I was a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater, I'd get charged for cannibalism?" I asked sarcastically.

"It looks fake" Sam insisted.

"no, man! I've seen them. They're, like, these robots" Fassbinder yelled.

"No, they're" Sharsky interrupted, but I said, loudly, over all of their voice, "Shut up!"

"Anybody could do it on any computer, okay?" Sam added once it was quite. I hadn't even noticed that Leo had been quiet the whole time. "And we weren't there, so I can't comment or speculate" I snorted at that bold-faced lie. We had so been there, and killed the evil dude, and saved the planet.

But they didn't need to know that.

"Aw, no. 'Comment or speculate'? And we're supposed to cohabitate?" Leo said. "No, listen, okay? Don't be sucking the sack, bro!" I wanted to roll my eyes again. I figured, if I spent any time with this guy, I'd be doing that a lot.

"Which sack" Sam asked. "Sam!" I cried, knowing what was going to be said next and not wanting to hear it.

"The ball sack" Sharsky told him like he was stupid. I face-palmed. "Dude, what kinda tool are you?" Fassbinder cried. I growled and slapped Fassbinder on the back of the head hard, making him almost slam him head into the computer in front of him.

"The mainstream media sack. They're lying to us, all right" at least Leo's answer was more diplomatic. "It's aliens, man. Follow me" we followed Leo back out of the tiny room – glad I'm not in there anymore – and back into their room.

"Leo, bad news" Fassbinder cried before we left. "We just got scooped. The video's already up on GFR!"

"Damn it, Fassbinder!" Leo cried at his computer. Leo groaned before explaining, "Robo-Warrior, the guy's our main competition on conspiracy stuff. 'Effing' was my F-ing idea and he stole it" I wanted to say something, but decided to let Leo have his rant.

"He's been linking to my site and thieving hits forever. By the way, I read your file. I'm poor, you're poor. We're gonna fix that, all right? You work for me now" Leo said. He said it nicely, and he meant well, but it was still kinda creepy.

"I work for you now? That's incredible. It's first day of collage, I got a career in a dinky internet firm with a boss who is made up of just pure champion stuff" Sam said, pretty meanly. "Sam" I hissed, but he ignored me.

Leo stood and got in Sam's face. "Are you mocking my life's work, Samuel? Huh? That's your one warning patrolling, dude. Don't make me have Fassbinder hack your financial aid, 'cause I'll do it" I got in Leo's face.

"Try it. There is a lot to Sam and I that's not in a silly Collage file. You try anything and you'll be up to your eyeball in shit" I growled.

Sam walked out of their room to a girl with a clipboard. "Hey, RA. Listen, it's getting a little intense in my room. Can I switch out?' Sam asked. "Oh, sad face, 312. No switching, no trading. Let's turn that frown upside down, okay?"

I stood at Sam's side once he stopped. "That girl is way too perky" I told him.

Just then, Sam's parents came through. Here we go again.

"Oh, here we go!" Judy's voice traveled to us.

'We made it. Hi" Ron said loudly. "It's just like Hogwarts" It was pretty easy to see why no Witwicky has ever gone to college before. "Is this co-ed?" Ron asked "this is a co-ed dorm" I already knew that, but I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Sam already knew I was insecure about our relationship.

Judy was eating a suspicious-looking brownie. "You guys want to meet my roommates?" Sam asked flatly. I have no idea why he did that, though. It's a disaster waiting to happen. "Some real swell guys"

We walked back into the room as Sam introduced, "Here's Leo"

"We're the Witwicky's" Just cried, very hyper, as Ron shook Leo's hand. "I'm Leo" he said happily, playing it up for the parents. "I'm Judy"

"Hey, you have a great son, you really do" he said with a wide smile. I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. "Oh, well aren't you the sweetest thing?' Judy cooed.

"Yeah, he's real sweet, ma" Sam grumbled. 'What's that in your hand, by the way?" Sam asked, noticing the brownies. "Oh, I got this at the bake sale for the environment that those boys are having" I knew this was bad. Sam looked at the label and groaned.

"you now, you don't often see white boys with the dreadlocks" Just continued. "Mom" Sam tried to tell her, but she kept talking. "Yeah, it's 100% pure, Hawaiian green for the environment"

"How many of these have you eaten" Sam started freaking out. Judy was excentric when _normal_, but high? It looked like we were about to find out.

"Drop it" Ron told her.

"Why!" Judy cried.

"They baked it with reefer in it" Ron told her. Judy was in denial. "No, it's…"

"Yes"

"Please, give me…" Sam tried to take the bag from his mother, but he wouldn't give it up.

"Hey! It's my cheat day. I can eat what I want" Judy snapped. Sam put his hands over his ears. "I'm gonna freak out, I'm going to freak out. Please do something right now, Dad" Sam said quickly.

Ron chased after Judy walked through the techie room, Sam going after her. I could still hear Judy yelling. I'm sure Sharsky and Fassbinder got a little show. Sam just stood out in the hall, watching. Leo looked at me. I shook my head. "Yes, they're almost always like this" I answered his unasked question.

Leo and I walked over to Sam. "I'm sorry and you're welcome" Leo said as a girl walked out of what looked like a public bathroom in just a towel.

Leo said something in Spanish. "We call it the 'Hot Freshman 55'" Leo opened some kind of folder. "Sharsky hacked campus Housing and stacked the dorm with Pretty Betties. Is…is so nice" I cleared my throat loudly, and Leo had the decency to look sheepish. "I'm gonna go get the rest of your stuff, Sam" I said, walking out after his parents without waiting for a reply.

"You should go make friends with him. He's Sam" I heard Judy saying loudly to random girls as I walked outside. "And he recently had his cheery popped" I stopped at that. Oh my Gad, she did not hear us!

"He didn't know I was in the house! I heard it all" Oh my God and Primus! This was NOT GOOD!

Sam passed me and ran up to his mom, trying to stop her.

"he would get in my closet and dress up as boy Spice" I remembered that. It was fun to tease him about it, but not in front of his classmates!

I finally unfroze and ran after Sam and Judy. "Hey, and his car is a talking robot!" Crap. Judy just released a National Secret because she got high off of brownies. Only the Witwickys'.

"No, like, ah, like the GPS. OnStar!" Sam tried to cover for her. "Frisbee!" Judy cried. Sam shot me a panicked look. I shrugged helplessly. "This can get so much worse. Just be glad we don't have a high Ratchet to deal with" I reminded him of that night two years ago when Ratchet ran into the power lines at his house while we were looking for the glasses.

"No, Dad! Dad, you just gonna let her run around the school!" Sam cried, grabbing her bag. They both ran after Judy, who had launched herself at a college guy playing Frisbee with his friends. She tackled him to the ground.

"Give it. Mine, mine, mine!" she cried. Ron chased after Judy, trying to get the Frisbees while Sam awkwardly tried to pretend he wasn't involved. Thankfully, I knew how to handle Judy…kind of.

"Judy" I snapped in front of her face, making her freeze. She went completely still. I can't believe I didn't remember this earlier. "Hand me the Frisbees" without a word, Just lifted her arm for me to take them. I grabbed them and handed them to the guys playing. "Sorry about her, some idiot fed her drugged brownies" I explained. They nodded and walked away.

I turned back to Judy. "Go with Ron to the car. You will not fuss or run away. When Ron says your name twice, you will be back to normal, and no longer high" I told her. I gestured for ron to grab her, and he dragged her to the car.

I looked at Sam. "You're welcome"


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N – poor Lindsey. I just remember the whole drama with Alice! And we know, because of how insecure she is, she's not just gonna get angry like Mikaela did.**

**Disclaimer – I want Transformers! But I don't even own the DVDs!**

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><p>Ron and Judy drove me back to their house before heading to the airport. I'm glad we had dropped Sam off early. It gave me time to change and get pretty for our first webcam date.<p>

I was actually nervous. Shooter was on the floor by the desk, playing with Frankie and Mojo. They all actually got along, which was handy. I felt really lonely. The only company I had was Shoot and the dogs. Bee was at the NEST base.

I could always go visit Sarah and Annabelle, I guess.

I logged in to the chat, ready for our date. But Sam wasn't logged on.

I waited. For an hour I wanted, but it always said 'user not online'.

Shooter kept doing funny tricks, trying to make me laugh, but it wasn't working. I was close to tears when I finally shut the computer off and walked away. I curled up on the couch with a blanket Judy had left out for me.

I guess, in all the college haze, he forgot about me.

Shooter curled up with me cooing. Even Frankie and Mojo jumped onto the couch and curled up around my legs, giving me as much comfort as they could.

* * *

><p>I sighed as I sat in the garage. It was a mess, especially after Bee left. Shooter was playing amidst the shelves, and Frankie and mojo were always on my heels. Suddenly, my phone rang. It was Sam. I was done crying. I was mad.<p>

"What do you want?" I snapped.

"Lindsey?"

"I can't believe you! You give me this whole 'long-distance relationship' kit and insist that I use it, and then you _stand me up_!" I cried.

"Something just happened to me, okay?" he said, blowing off everything I said.

"You finally hit puberty" I said snidely. I was really hurt. "No, no, no. Stop laughing. This is serious, okay" he said quickly. "Who's laughing" I snapped. He didn't seem to get it. "Remember my great-great-grandfather…"

"Archibald, the guy that found Megatron, I know" I interrupted.

"Yeah…watch it, watch it, watch…no! Okay, remember how…Can you stop? Watch your foot! Watch your foot" Sam was screaming. "Remember, he started seeing those crazy symbols. Well, now I'm seeing them to. Excuse me. I just read a 903-page astronomy book in 32.6 seconds. I had a meltdown in the middle of my class. I am seeing symbol ever since I…" Sam trailed off.

This started to sound serious. "Since what?' I asked him nervously.

"Ever since I touched the cube splinter" he realized. "Do you have it?"

"Yeah, I have it. It's locked up in your guys' safe in the garage. Shooter's watching it. It's fine" I told him, trying to reassure him. I guess I could forgive him for missing one date, considering.

"Lindsey, do not touch it, okay? Don't touch it" Sam said firmly.

"I won't. I won't even open the safe" I promised. "It's locked up and no one else knows where it is, not even Bee" I assured him.

Suddenly, I heard an odd sound, and it wasn't the dogs or Shooter. "Hold on" I said. I walked over to the safe to find a small Decepticon, twice the size of Shooter, trying to get into the safe. "Shit" I cursed. "Shooter!"

Shooter launched himself at the bot and started shooting at his optics. I set the phone down and grabbed the hand-held torch Ron left. "Is that the best you got, huh? Is that the best you can do?"

"Shooter" I stepped onto the bot's chest and pointed the now-lit torch at him. "What do you want" I growled as he went quiet. I was far enough away I wouldn't torch him, but close enough that if he pissed me off, I could torch his optic. I didn't want to. Ever since that discussion I had with Optimus about me being empathetic to Autobots, I was hesitant to hurt _any_ bots. "Answer me, or I torch your eye" I threatened. Shooter was hopping around, wanting to shot the Decepticon until he was dead.

"I seek knowledge from the Cube. The Fallen Demands me!" the bot cried, desperate.

"What knowledge?" I asked harshly.

"You got the shard, I need the shard, give me the shard, give me the shard, they're gonna whack me, I'm gonna be dead without the shard!" the bot chanted. I pressed a little harder with my foot.

"Easy Goddess, I'm just a salvage-scrap drone!" he cried. I glared. "Shooter, open the box" there was a heavy lead box next to where I had the bot on the ground. Shoot pulled the lid open and I quickly shoved him in the box. We shut the lid and latched it tight.

"What was that?" Sam asked once I picked the phone up again. "I'll explain later. Not on an open phone line, though, alright? I'm getting on a plane right now, I'll be there later in the afternoon, just be careful Sam" I hung up and quickly got a ticket.

* * *

><p>"And have any strangers given you anything suspicious to carry on today?" a worker at the airport asked me.<p>

"Yeah, a live bomb!" Wheelie cried from the box. I slammed my heel – yes I was wearing heels – onto the box and smiled. "No"

"Good"

* * *

><p>Flight 57, welcome to Philadelphia" the pilot said as the plane was landing.<p>

I got off and quickly headed to the college. It had only been one day, I still remembered the way. The taxi guy gave me an odd look when he saw the lead box, but said nothing. "Hey Leo" I greeted when I saw him standing outside their room door.

"Lindsey! You don't wanna go in there" he said as I opened the door.

I found out why as soon as I looked in. Sam was lying on his bed, with a scantily dress blond on top of him. Tears came to my eyes. "Lindsey!" Sam cried when he saw me.

"Is that your girlfriend?" the slut asked indifferently when she saw me.

"Ex" I snapped, running out of the building. "Lindsey, wait!"

But then I heard a crashing sound from Sam's room. And it didn't sound like any kind of making-out sound. Leo and I raced back to their room to find the slut with a five-foot, metal tongue. Shit, Decepticon.

"Sam, your bed buddy, Alice…" Leo trailed off when he saw Alice's tongue.

Sam shrieked.

I launched the lead box at her, but she dodged and it went through the window. I started running, Sam and Leo not far behind me, slamming the door shut.

"All right, come on!" Sam rushed. "She's an alien robot, you gotta move" he grabbed Leo and pulled him along as we ran into the first building we found, which happened to be a library.

"Is this real?" Leo asked. "Just run" I snapped. "Sure" Le said compliantly as they both followed me.

We hid among a couple tall stacks of books. "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! I can't believe I almost had sex with her in my dreams" I wrinkled my nose in disgust at him. "I can't believe you, Sam!" I cried, tears still running down my face despite the situation. Leo grabbed my hand comfortingly, which I did not fit with his exposed personality.

"Look, it's not my fault, okay?" Sam tried to shift the blame. "I can't believe you! How is this not your fault?"

"Listen, I'm a victim!"

"Of what?' I asked, incredulous. "a little 80-pound girl?"

"Of molestation" he tried, but I shook my head. "It's like getting humped in the neck by a mountain ox"

"you didn't have to put your tongue in her mouth" Sam finally noticed the tears streaming down my face and was no longer able to meet my eyes. Shooter climbed up, onto my shoulder, wanting to see the action.

"Wow, what is that?' Leo freaked. "This is Shooter, he's my baby bot" I told him.

"Mama sad?" Shooter asked. His voice was squeaky, like a pre-puberty boy's. Shooter didn't talk very often, so every time he did it was incredibly cute.

"Lindsey…" Sam tried, but I shook my head. "No. You know what, this is the last straw. I'm done" I told him.

"she violated your orifice with her nasty alien probe?" Leo asked. "She did it? She went in there? All her little embryo alien babies are gestating and hatching inside of you. They're growing right now, probably"

"Cybertronians don't have embryos" I told him. Leo looked at me like I was crazy.

"Listen. I am the key to this. The aliens, they want me 'cause of my site" I rolled my eyes. I didn't bother correcting him, mostly because right then there was a giant explosion.

We jumped over the rails and down to the ground floor of the library. "Run!" Sam and Leo both hid under tables, but I hid farther away. "Lindsey!" Sam screamed. There was another explosion and Sam slid over to me.

We crawled on the floor, through the fallen books, trying to get away from the Decepticon. We leaned against the wall until she blasted a giant hole in it. We ran through and kept running, trying to get away.

"You've got to get that box" I said when I saw the lead box with Wheelie in it. Shooter was clutching to my shoulder and my hair, trying to hold on. He crawled into his case and transformed, safely tucked away with me. He knew he was too small to be any help in these situations.

Sam grabbed the box and followed me to a random car. "This one" I yelled. They both got in with me. "What? Hey! Let me out, let me out!" Wheelie cried.

"Don't open it" I told them. "Shooter" Shooter scurried out and hotwired the car for me, just like the tow truck. Once it was started we went back into my pocket at the cellphone.

"Drive, drive, drive. She's right there! She's right there!" Sam kept repeating. The girl transformed and stuck her metal tongue through the window, breaking the glass, trying to get at Sam. I growled and drove just like Will had taught me to in these kinds of crazy situations.

I saw a tall pole and smiled. "Kiss this, bitch" I hissed, crashing into the pole, killing the Decepticon.

I back up and ran over her as we tried to get as far away from the campus as possible.

"Okay, so what else don't I know, all right?" Leo cried. "Since you guys forgot to mention some minor details"

"The things you don't know about us could fill a library" I told Leo.

"that thing you saw back there, that was the little baby…whoa!" Sam's explanation was interrupted as a helicopter almost ran into us. I knew it was a Decepticon. I slammed on the brakes, but as soon as we stopped, something slammed through the roof of the car. "Oh, my God!" Leo kept screaming.

"Sam!" I screamed, worried. But then I looked through my window. A black truck was speeding towards us, and slammed into my side of the car, hitting mostly me.

The Helicopter picked us up, but Sam's door opened and he fell out, only the door keeping him from falling. '"Sam!"

We were spinning wildly as the Helicopter flew. Both Leo and I were reaching for Sam to save him. I was getting a severe case of déjà vu today.

Soon, we pulled Sam back into the car and shut the door tight. The helicopter dropped us over what looked like an abandoned factory. We screamed as we fell. I was sure we were going to die.

We landed upside down and some kind of saw cut the car in half. Leo and I on one side; Sam, the other. We looked up to see…oh crap.

I got up and turned around to see Megatron. "Come here, boy" he said. "Closer. You remember me, don't you?" he said as Sam came to him, going down the stars we had landed by.

"I did what you said, okay? Just don't hurt us" Sam begged fruitlessly.

"Shut up" he swiped at Sam, making him fly off the stairs, to the floor. Sam landed on what looked like a medical examiners table.

"It feels good to grab your flesh" Megatron gloated. He pinned Sam down. "I'm going to kill you slowly, painfully, but first, we have some delicate work to do" Leo was holding onto me so I couldn't go and run to Sam. I struggled against him, and if I had been in my right mind, could have gotten loose. But I wasn't and I didn't.

"How I could snap your limbs off! Doctor, examine this alien specimen" A small robot the size of Wheelie, that looked like a metal octopus came crawling. "I'll scan you, correct you. Let's take a look at your face. I'm the doctor. The odd job. Information" I was crying even harder. I turned around and burring my face in Leo's shoulder because I couldn't watch.

"Beseeching my shard. Easy or tough way?" I couldn't see them, but I could still hear everything. But I couldn't look away for long. I turned back to see the mini-bot pulling something out of Sam's mouth. He plugged it into himself and projected the images.

It was like there were two screens. One showed the symbols that Sam must have been talking about, the other showing images…mostly of me. I blushed, realizing they were showing his thoughts. He really thought of me that often?

"Oh, there they are" Megatron mused.

"That's what I'm seeing in my head" Sam realized. "These symbols can lead us to the Energon source" Megatron announced.

"We must have the brain on the table" the evil Dr. Bot decreed. "Chop, chop!"

"Brain?" Sam asked. "What does he mean by my brain?" Sam shouted.

"Well, you have somethin on your mind, something I need" gosh, that sounded creepy. "Hold on, I know you're pissed, I know you're pissed because I tried to kill you and it's completely understandable. If somebody tried to kill me, I'd be upset, too" Sam, really?

"I think that we have an opportunity here to start anew and develop our relationship and see where it leads us, okay?" was Sam asking Megatron on a date? "So, you just call that doctor Inspector off and let's just talk for five seconds!" mini Dr. Bat came with a built-in saw and was about to cut Sam's head open.

Just then, Optimus crashed through the room, Bumblebee right behind him at the side of the building. They started shooting immediately. "Come on! Go, go" Leo cried, pulled me away. "Sam!" I cried.

Bumblebee drove off with Le and I, leaving Sam behind, with Optimus.

And Megatron, Starscream, and the other Decepticons.

I screamed and tried to get out, but Leo buckled me in and Bumblebee wouldn't release me. He drove off in the opposite direction. As glad as I was to get away from them, I couldn't stand laving Sam behind.

"No!" I screamed, still fighting. "No, I'm not leaving him! I'm not leaving Sam! SAM!" Leo held onto me, stroking my hair, trying to quiet me as Bumblebee raced on.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N – Aww, poor Linds. Felt bad, writing that. That part always confused me, I don't quite know why. I'm sorry that this chapter is so much shorter than the others, please don't kill me! I'll make up for it, I promise!**

* * *

><p>Turns out, I had been wrong. We weren't driving in the opposite direction, just a round-about way there. We drove through the battling Autobots and Decepticons, only stopping long enough for Sam to hop in.<p>

As soon as he was in the car, I was attacking him with a giant hug, glad he was alright.

"Bumblebee, get them out of here" Ratchet called in passing. We drove away, leaving the Autobots to fight for their lives.

* * *

><p>Bee, followed by Mudflap and Skids, found us a private, enclosed area for us to hide. We all got out and tried to cope. Sam had just told us. Optimus was dead.<p>

"_What we're hearing from the German government is that the world broadcast was a satellite hacking. The military has just told us they have assumed Condition Delta, which I the highest level we have been at since 9/11. President Obama is being flown to a bunker somewhere in the middle of the United States in the face of the worst simultaneous attacks ever around the globe. The aircraft carrier _USS Roosevelt_ goes down off the East Coast, all hands lost._

"_Worldwide casualties are in the neighborhood of 7,000, but that number could climb..._"

"shut it off" I told Leo.

"What?' he looked at me. "Shut it off" I growled, walking away from him. I didn't want to hear this. I didn't want Sam to hear it, because he would blame himself. Especially with all the casualties.

Leo, of course, ignored me. "Hey, bro, you need to listen to this, man. You gotta check this out" Sam has been listening to it, despite my wishes. "They have a picture of me, man! We're dead, bro! FBI, CIA, we are wanted fugitives now"

I rolled my eyes. "Been there, done that" I told Leo.

Sam tried to walk away, but Leo followed him. I had already been heading for Bee, so technically both of them were following me. "I just need you to listen for one minute, man" Leo tired, despite the fact that Sam kept repeating "Stop"

"This thing has blown up to a whole other lever, all right?" Sam had enough.

"You know what? Give me this thing" Sam turned on Leo and took his phone. "They can track us. Do you see this?" Leo was having trouble taking all the information in. Sam dropped the phone and crushed in repeatedly with his foot.

"They can track us? Like, Satellite track us?" I rolled my eyes. He was a conspiracy nut that didn't think if tracking?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, technically I'm not even with you guys. Technically, I'm like, a hostage. This is kidnapping. Enough is…" thankfully, the twins got him to shut up.

"Yo, Leo!" Leo jumped. I had to laugh. "This thing's gonna give me a heart attack, I swear" I heard him mutter.

"That's 'cause you's a wuss" Mudflap said as Skids jumped off the stone wall.

"You guys forced me into that car, right? So…"

"I think he's scared" Mudflap added. "Hey Mudflap, what are we gonna do with this shrimp taco?" Skids asked. "Boys! No hurting the human, you'll get sent to labs to be dissected. You don't know what that means, look it up!" I shouted, walking over to Sam. Shooter was with Bee. The two got along really well. Like brothers.

"Listen, Sam, I know what I'm gonna do, man. Look, I'm just going to go to the authorities and tell them the truth. Like, I had nothing to do with this. So, I'm not an accomplice" Leo said.

"It won't work. Sam and I went through this two years ago. Local authorities won't believe you, and now that they've seen you with us, Decepticons don't care if you were a hostage or the brains. You were involved, you're in the know. They will go after you, your family, anything and everything you care about until you're dead or you give them what they want and they still kill you" I told him.

"If you want to run, go! Just stop complaining" Sam snapped.

* * *

><p>No one really spoke to each other for the rest of the day. It was well after dark when Sam finally rejoined us. We had lit all the lamps we could find and had started a fire. When I saw Sam approaching I wasted no time in getting up and wrapping my arms around him.<p>

"You couldn't have done anything to prevent it" I told him, knowing what was on his mind. He leaned his forehead against mine.

"Are you okay?" he asked me. I closed my eyes. "I don't know. I will be"

Sam pulled away from me suddenly and approached Bumblebee, who was in his bipedal mode and was playing with Shooter. "Bee" Both Bee and Shooter turned to Sam. "If you hate me, I understand" Sam said softly. Bee looked away sadly. "I messed up. I'm sorry"

"_Young fella, you are the person I care about most in my life…If there's anything you need, I won't be far away_" Bee transmitted. Shooter got up and scuttled over to Sam, climbing up his clothes until he reached Sam's shoulder, and nuzzled his cheek like he does to me.

"Love you daddy" Shooter said. Sam placed a hand over Shooter, as if to hold him there, or protect him.

Sam sat down next to me, still holding Shooter. "He's dead because of me. He came here to protect me and he's dead"

"_There's some things you just can't change…so his sacrifice for us would not have been in vain. Hallelujah!_"

"I'm gonna make it right. I'm going to turn myself in" Sam said. Bumblebee got u and I wrapped my arms around him. "_We, we've got to stick together_" Bee transformed into his car. "Everything we worked for will be wiped out in one day" Bee insisted.

"Sam, turning yourself in would be the exact opposite of making it right. Instead of letting Optimus die in vain, finish his work. Optimus may be gone, but we're still here and so are the Decepticons. The world still needs us" I told him.

Sam looked up, as if realizing something. "You too" Skids and Mudflap turned their attention to Sam. "Hey, you know the glyphs? The symbols, these? The symbols that have been rattling around in my head?" Sam showed them his arm, where he must have drawn one of the symbols.

"Oh, that's old school, yo. That's like… that's Cybertronian" Skids told us. "That's some serious stuff, right there"

"They gotta mean something, like a message or, ah, like a map! Like a map to an Energon source! Can you read this?" Sam asked, holding out his arm. "read? Ah, we, no. We don't really do much reading. Not so much" Mudflap said. He said it dismissively, but I could tell he felt stupid and helpless.

"Well, if you can't read it we gotta find somebody who can" Sam said, determined.

"Ah, look why came sashaying back" Skids mocked when Leo cam walking over. I smiled kindly at him, glad he was back.

"Hair growing like a Chia Pet. Look at him" Mudflap added.

"I had a bit of a mild panic attack earlier, alright?" Leo explained.

"That's 'cause you're a pussy" Mudflap said as if that explained everything.

"I think I'm allowed that, considering what I'm been through. I heard you have a problem. I think I know someone who can help" Leo told us.

"Who?" Sam asked skeptically.

"Robo-Warrior"


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N – See, I told you I'd make up for it!**

* * *

><p>"This guy, Robo-Warrior, everything about anything alien. He's supposed to know" Leo explained. "One time we revenge-hacked his site and maybe I saw some of your alien drawings of whatever"<p>

We pulled up to the curb of a dirty, old, butcher shop from the look of it. Sam got out and handed me out after him. We all walked in, Sam wearing a ball-cap and sweatshirt as his disguise.

"This is it. Yep. Deli, good front! All right, wait here. I'll give you the go/no go. All right?" he says 'all right' a lot, I've noticed.

Sam and I got bored and walked in. "It's him! It's him! That's the guy right there! That's him" Leo shouting, pointing to… Are you kidding me?

"Hello Simmons" I said.

"No" Simmons didn't want to believe it, Sam and I didn't want to believe it. But it was true. "You got to be kidding me" Sam quoted my thoughts.

"All right, meat store's closed" Simmons yelled. He dinged a bell, "Everybody out! Out, right now!"

"Wait a minute. You know this guy?" Leo asked. I shrugged. "He 'arrested' us, we exchanged threats, and saved the world together" I summed up. Leo looked like he was gonna faint.

"Some good that did me. You're the case that shut down Sector Seven, got the kibosh, disbanded. No more security clearance, no retirement, no nothing" Simmons complained. "Well, you did torture a peaceful, sentient being, and kept the leader of the race that wanted to destroy the world right next to the exact object that would allow him to do so" I interjected.

"Moron! Where's the whitefish?" a woman complained at the other side of the deli. "Hey! Don't touch me with the pig" a guy with really messed up teeth complained.

"Yakov!" Simmons bellowed.

"What?"

"You don't get Christmas bonuses standing around! You want those new teeth you saw on SkyMall?"

"It's my dream" the guy nodded.

"Help her out!"

Simmons turned back to us. "You're mom lives with you?" I asked him. I wanted to say 'You live with your mama?' but since we need his help, I figured being a bitch wouldn't help.

Simmons nodded. "They got your face all over the news, alien boy" Simmons snapped. "And NBE1's still kicking, huh?"

"The human government is stupid and allowed the Decepticons to steal the seemingly last remaining piece of the Alspark to bring him back to live, and it all went to Hell from there" I told him before he could ask.

"I don't want anything to do with you two" Simmons said. "Good-bye, you never saw me. I got bagels to schmear. Vanish!" we waved us off walked away. Sam followed. "Can you give me five seconds?" what is it with him and five seconds? "Look, hold on, I need your help!" I got sick and tired of us dancing around that matter.

"Really? You need my help?" Simmons looked pleased.

"I need…Look, I am slowly losing my mind. Okay, I had a little crab-bot, plunge a device deep into the soft tissues of my brain and started projecting little alien symbols like a freaking home movie! And on top of that, I'm a wanted fugitive. So, you think you got it rough?" Sam ranted.

"Simmons" he turned to look at me. "The entire planet, maybe even the universe, is at stake. Don't you wanna be a hero again?"

Simmons looked like he was debating before he said, "You said it projected images off your brain?"

"Right" Sam nodded.

"Meat locker, now!" We followed Simmons into the meat locker, where he showed us a trap door. "Dead pigs" Leo said. I rolled my eyes at him. "What you are about to see is top secret. Do not tell my mother" I giggled at that, and I saw the corners of Simmons mouth lift.

We climbed through the door, down a ladder, into a room that was lined with boxes and files.

"Okay, files, files. We're talking about symbols" Simmons muttered, looking around. Leo was about to touch something when Simmons slapped his hand away. "Hey, still radioactive. Hand's off"

Simmons looked at Sam. "Okay, Cube-brain" he opened a file, "Any of these look like the symbols you saw?" Sam took the file and looked at the pictures. "Where'd you get these?" Sam asked him.

Simmons opened a file-cabinet drawer. "Before I got fired, I poached S-7's crown jewel" he started climbing. "Over 75 years of alien research, which points to one inescapable fact? The Transformers, they've been here a long, long time. How do I know?" he tossed Leo a box. "Archeologists found these unexplained markings in ancient ruins all over the world.

"China. Egypt. Greece" she showed us the pictured before showing an old-fashioned projector-film. "Shot in 1932. These the symbols you're seeing in your head?"

"Yeah" Sam muttered.

"Same ones over here, right? So, tell me, how did they end up all drawing the same things? Aliens. And I think some of them stayed" she showed us some more pictured.

"Check this out. Project Black Knife" he started flashing pictures. "Robots in disguise, hiding here all along. We detected radioactive signatures all across the country. I pleaded on my knees with S-7 to investigate it, but they said the reading were infinitesimal, that I was obsessed!" he slammed him fist onto the table. "Me. Can you imagine that?"

I could, but I didn't say anything.

"Megatron said that there was another Energon source here" Sam told Simmons.

"On Earth?"

"On Earth"

"Another source?"

Sam nodded. "Okay? And that these symbols, maps in my head, would lead him there"

"You talk to your Autobot friends about this" Simmons asked Sam. I nodded. "We tried, but they can't read the symbols. The source is before them" I explained to him. Sam nodded. "Whatever the Energon source is, it predates them. It's before them"

"So it comes before them" Simmons unnecessarily clarified.

"Correct"

"Well, then we're porked, unless we can talk to a Decepticon. Lindsey, do you still have that little bot from the Dam?" he asked me. I nodded, "but he wouldn't know anything. Not being raised Cybertronian and all"

"Well, we need to find a Decepticon. I mean, I'm not on speaking term with them, besides Shooter" I sat up straighter as Simmons comment. "But I am"

I went back outside and grabbed the lead container out of Bee. "Bee, do you mind keeping an optic on Shooter?" I asked as I grabbed the box. "_No problem…little lady_" I smiled and headed back to the boys.

"Let me out!" Wheelie whined when I set the container onto the table. I opened the box and wrapped a chain around Wheelie's neck to keep him some-what controlled as he shrieked. "I will have so many Decepticons on your butt!" Wheelie threatened.

"Wheelie" he looked at me, finally quiet. "Behave" he stopped yelling, although he pulled at the chains.

"That's a Decepticon?" Sam asked. "Yeah"

"And you're training him?" Sam asked again, in wonder.

"Trying to"

Simmons looked at Wheelie in wonder. "I spent my who adult life combing the planet for aliens, and you're carrying around one in your purse like a little Chihuahua"

I giggled at that.

Wheelie glared at Simmons. "So you wanna throw-down you pubic 'fro-head?"

"Wheelie" I cooed in a baby-voice. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about locking you up in that small box. But if you're good, then I won't lock you up again, okay? And I won't let Shooter attack you again"

"Shooter attacked him" Sam said fondly, and amused. I shot him a glance before turning back to Wheelie. "Just tell me what these symbols are, please" Wheelie kneeled down and looked at the pictured scattered across the table. "All right. I know that. That's the language of the Primes. I don't read it, but these guys…Where the frick did you find photos of these guys" Wheelie wondered.

"Is this they?" Sam asked, holding up a couple pictures. "Yeah. Seekers, pal. Oldest of the old. Oh, they've been here thousands of years, looking for something. I don't know what. Nobody tells me notin', but they'll translate those symbols for ya. And I know where to find them"

"Show us" Simmons demanded. "Please, Wheelie" I added nicely.

Wheelie turned to the map Simmons had pinned to the wall and, using his optics line laser pointers, pointed out several different locations.

"The closest one's in Washington" Simmons said.

* * *

><p>We all climbed out of Bumblebee, parked across the Smithsonian. I had never been here before. Like I had promised, Wheelie hadn't been shoved back into the box, but was allowed to sit in between Leo and I.<p>

"Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Land of dreams in there" Simmons mused. "All I ever wanted to be was an astronaut"

Suddenly, Simmons pulled off his pants – I mean, literally ripped them off – to reveal a S-7 thong that reminded me of his S-7 superman undershirt. "Hold those" he handed his pants to Sam. "What is that?" Sam asked in exasperation.

"What? I wear them when I'm in a funk. So does Giambi, Jeter. It's a baseball thing, okay?" Simmons, thankfully, pulled on a long trench coat. "Watches synchronized, sharp mind and empty bladder. You get caught, demand an attorney and don't ever say my name. Okay, take on of these pills" he tossed Sam a bottle, "slip it under your tongue.

"It's the high-concentrate polymer they put in Oreo cookies" Simmons said, anticipating my question. "Tricks the polygraph every time. Okay. Now let's get this show on the road" wow. Simmons can sure talk when he's excited.

Simmons pulled out a Taser. "Whoa, no! No, listen, I can't do this. I'm not some alien bounty hunter, guys. I'm not gonna do this. Guards have gonna, I don't want to die" Leo whined.

"Dude, not even 24 hours after meeting my first alien and I was towing a legless alien so he could shoot people. Stop whining" I snapped.

"Kid, kid, kid" Simmons bumped chests with Leo. "You compromise this mission, you are dead to me" I scrunched up my nose; it looked like Simmons was going to kiss Leo. Eww!

"Now, look into my eyes and tighten up that sphincter"

* * *

><p>I didn't even want to think about Leo walking around with his pant and underwear down. At closing time, Sam and I hopped out of the plane we were hiding in, Shooter in my pocket. We ran over to where Simmons was dragging – what? – Leo and I let Wheelie onto the ground.<p>

"We just downed five guards, five guards. Now get your stuff and get out of here" Simmons rushed, kneeling beside Sam. "Give me a second here"

"I got to get the tracker, all right"

Ignoring Sam and Simmons, I turned to Wheelie. "Behave" I reminded him.

We wondered around, trying to find the Seeker. Wheelie was in his RC car form. I noticed Wheelie speeding off. I grabbed onto Sam. "Sam, look. Follow him, he knows where he's going"

We chased after Wheelie, who stopped next to an ancient looking jet. I saw Simmons on the other side. I knew Shooter wanted to be out there with Wheelie, so I set him down in his case so he could drive after Wheelie.

"You got what I got?" Simmons asked excitedly, holding up…something…to the jet. "Yeah"

"Blackbird"

Wheelie transformed in front of the nose of the jet. "There he is. This guy's a legend, like the Chairman of the Board! Yo, freshman, point the shard and watch the magic happen" Wheelie snapped at Sam, who ducked under the rails surrounding the jet.

The sliver jumped from the tweezers Sam had been using to hold it, to the jet, sending an electric jolt. Sam and I ran over to try and find the sliver, when I noticed the symbol on it.

"It's Decepticon!" I screamed, running, scooping up Shooter as I ran. It was habit by now.

"Behind the mig now!" Simmons screamed. Simmons, Leo, and I all ran away as the jet started transforming. Sam was right behind us. I don't know where Wheelie went.

The jet transformed into a giant, old-looking robot. "What sort of hideous mausoleum is this" his voice sounded kinda European. Wheelie rolled over and crashed into Leo, who simply pushed him aside. We were all hiding under some random plane.

"Answer me, pawns and knaves!" the bot called. "Show yourselves or suffer my infinite wrath" we walked, slowly, over to him. I noticed he had a walking stick. Really? "You little spinal-cord-based organisms!" he crashed into somethin hanging on the wall. "Bugger it" yup, he sounded British.

"Hey, no need to insult us" I told him, but I was dismissed. "Behold the eternal glory of Jetfire!" the bot called out. He seemed a little senile to me. "Prepare for remote systems override!"

"I tell ya, this guy did not age well" Wheelie commented. I nodded, keeping my eyes on Jetfire. "I don't think he's gonna hurt us" I said. Despite his Decepticon insignia and his demeanor, I did not believe he wished us any real harm.

"I command these doors to open" Jetfire cried. Since when did doors open on voice command? "Fire! I said fire!" his launched missile went backwards. I would have smiled if the situation was less dangerous.

"Bollocks. Damn these worthless parts!" Jetfire cursed.

He crashed for the doors and started walking away. 'Wait a second" Sam cried after him. We ran out of the hanger/museum to hear Jetfire say "Itchy, wretched rust in my arse" oh God. As funny as that sounds, if I think about, it'll make me puke.

**3****rd**** POV for a little bit**

"Right. I'm on a mission" Jetfire declared.

"Wait!" they called started shouting, trying to get him to stop and listen. "What do you want?" Jetfire asked angrily. "Look, we just want to talk" Sam shouted to the giant robot. Jetfire was taller than the Smithsonian.

"I have no time to talk. I'm on a mission" Jetfire repeated stubbornly. "I'm a mercenary doom-bringer. What planted am I on?"

"Earth"

"Earth? Terrible name for a planet. Might as well call it 'dirt'. Planet 'Dirt'" Jetfire ranted.

"Well, you cannot exactly accuse our ancestors of being very smart" Lindsey remarked, smiling at his comment. Shooter was perched on her shoulder, watching the robot curiously. Jetfire froze for a moment, peering at the girl. He decided, in his quick, irrational way, that he liked her. "Right. Well then, tell me, is that robot civil war still going on?" he asked. "Oo's winnin'?"

"The Decepticons" Sam said sadly.

Jetfire made a sound of disgust and spat on the ground. "Well, I changed sided to the Autobots" he told them. "What do you mean, changed sides?" Sam asked, incredulous. Considering the nature of the war, it was kinda hard to believe. It seemed like a foreign concept.

"It's a choice. It's an intensely personal decision" Jetfire remarked, kneeled down so he was closer to the human group. "So much negativity. Who wants to live a life filled with hate?" _The Decepticons_, Lindsey thought in her head, but didn't say aloud. She saw Bee parked somewhere behind the group, with Mudflap and Skids. She hadn't noticed them before.

"You mean you don't have to work for those miserable, freaking Decepticon?" Wheelie asked. Though he wouldn't admit it, he liked the humans better than the Decepticons. They were at least less violet and cruel. Plus, the chick wasn't half bad. At least she never torched his eye.

"If the Decepticons had their way, they'd destroy the whole universe" Jetfire said in way of explanation.

Wheelie crawled over to the chick, who he decided would be him 'Mistress'. He hated that Megatron made them call him Lord and Master, but he wouldn't mind it with her.

"I'm changing sides, I'm changing sides too, Goddess Mistress. Who's your little Autobot?"

**Lindsey's POV again**

I looked down to see Wheelie holding onto my leg. I smiled. "Aww, you're so cute" I cooed. He then started humping my leg. "Yeah. Say my name, say my name" it was kinda disturbing, having him hump my legs, but it was harmless and I could see that it bugged Sam, so I did nothing to stop it.

Leo looked slightly sick and Simmons just gave him that 'woooow' look you give something you don't really know how to describe, but is disturbing. "What are you allowing to happen to your foot just now?" Sam asked.

"At least he's faithful, Sam" I said, making the double meaning and accusation behind my words clear. "Yeah, well, he's faithful and he's nude and he's perverted" Sam finally got tired of it and kicked Wheelie off of my leg. "Can you just…can you stop?"

Wheelie shook his head. "I only answer to Mistress, only Goddess Mistress" we all had looks of surprise of our faces at his words, but I could feel Shooter nodding on my shoulder. Sam and I shared a looked. _What is going on?_

**I was going to stop here…**

"What were you saying?" Sam slowly turned back to Jetfire, who was also eyeing me oddly. Well, I don't know what's going on, so don't ask me, bub.

"I told you my name was Jetfire, so stop judging me" he cried, upset. I don't remember us saying anything that translated to judgment. He had been pounding his walking stick so close to us we all had fallen onto our backs. "Somebody shit in the bed this morning" Wheelie said snidely.

"I have issues of my own" Jetfire snapped. "And it started with my mother. My ancestors have been here for centuries. My father, why, he was a wheel, the first wheel. Do you know what he transformed into? Nothing! But he did so with honor, dignity, damn it!"

Just then, Jetfire farted out his parachute. That was slightly disturbing, and had us all backing away.

Jetfire fell back, propelled by the parachute. We all got up and ran over to him. We reached him by the time he was rolling over onto his side, cursing. "My boosters are fried"

"I think we can help each other" Sam told him while he was down. "You know things I don't know. I know things you don't know, I do" he insisted. "I don't think he knows anything. Honestly, I don't" Leo said, eyeing Jetfire. I slung my elbow onto Leo's shoulder. "I thought the same about you, but I was wrong" I told him.

It took him a moment to realize I had just insulted him. "hey!" he cried, but I had already walked away.

* * *

><p>"I could do this all day" Sam said, carving the symbols into the ground in front of Jetfire with my knife. "It comes in waves, these vivid symbols. They're symbols, but they're in my mind. You see, all this is in my mind, and Megatron wants what's in my mind"<p>

"I always said we could create whole world with our brains" I muttered to Simmons. "It's pure science"

"Him and someone called the Fallen" Sam added over my voice.

"The Fallen? I know him! He left me here to rust! The Original Decepticon" Jetfire growled. "He's terrible to work for. It's always apocalypse, chaos, crisis. These transcriptions, they were part of my mission, the Fallen's search. I remember now, for the Dagger's Tip and the key" we were finally getting somewhere!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. The dagger's Tip? The key? What are you talking about?" Sam asked him. I felt oddly quiet today. It was kinda weird.

"No time to explain. Hold on, everybody! Stay still or you'll die!"

Wait, what?


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N – wow. 9 whole pages. That's three more pages than usual. You guys better have been happy with the last chapter, because this one is going back to normal length.**

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><p>Zap!<p>

All of a sudden, instead of being just outside the Smithsonian, I was being thrown across some kind of desert that was frickin' hot! It's a good thing I was wearing shorts, and a tank-top, although the shorts were a little too-short for me to be thrown around. But I still had my leather jacket.

Shooter wasn't on my shoulder anymore. I looked around wildly for him. "Shooter!" I cried. I heard him from my pocket. I looked down to see him leaning out of my inside pocket. He was holding onto a little hook. He must have attached his case to the inside of my jacket so he wouldn't fly out. I smiled. "Oh, you're so smart" I cooed, until I remembered now was not the time.

"Sam! Bumblebee!" I called. I had landed right next to Leo – although, thankfully, not _on_ him – but I couldn't really see anyone else.

"Where are we?" I heard Sam call. "Simmons!"

"Hey! Over here!" I saw a small figure waving off to my right, another to my left. That must me Sam and Simmons. "Oh, my God! What is this?" Leo looked like he was about to freak out, but then he said, "It's Vegas"

I rolled my eyes and ignored him.

"You guys okay?" Sam called as we ran to each other. "Are you?" I asked, jumping into his arms. "Hey, I think we're in Vegas!" Leo yelled from behind us. I groaned and Sam laughed at me slightly.

* * *

><p>We were all collected around Jetfire, while Simmons was yelling at him. Sam, Leo, and I were sitting on the rock Jetfire was standing on. I was wrapping Sam's hand, because there was a nasty gash across his palm. "That really, really hurt. You're just lucky that I didn't get hurt! People could have gotten killed, okay? And if I would have gotten hurt, you would have heard…"<p>

Before Simmons could finish, Jetfire growled "oh, shut up! I told you I was opening a space bridge. It's the fastest way to travel to Egypt" wait, Egypt? Wasn't that one of the sites for the symbol Simmons told us about?

"What? When did you…when did you tell us? You didn't tell us anything!" Sam cried, pulling away from me and standing up. "You didn't tell us anything. Why are we in Egypt?"

"Don't you get snippy with me, fleshling! You were duly informed!" Jetfire cried.

"At least we didn't have to go through an airport. They would catch us for sure, and I think I'm the only one with my passport" I commented.

"Can you just stop for a second? Can you focus" Sam sounded a little calmer, kinda like how he sounded when he was dealing with his mom after an hour. "Can you tell us why we're in Egypt so we can all have a little bit of semblance of peace of mind?" while Sam was talking, Simmons was pointing at him, as if say 'Yeah! What he said!'

"This planet was visited by our race once before, by our earliest ancestors, millennium ago. They were on an exploratory mission to harvest Energon, the lifeblood of our race. Without it, we'll all perish, oxidize, and rust, like my wretched self!" Some of his parts fell off and I heard a spring get loose. "Do you have any idea what it's like to slowly fall apart and die?" he screamed.

"Not pleasant?" I smiled sarcastically.

"NO!"

"Let's not get episodic, okay, old-timer?" Simmons was one to talk, "Beginning, middle end. Facts. Details. Condense. Plot. Tell it"

"Somewhere buried in this desert, our ancestors built a great machine. It harvest Energon by destroying suns" that didn't sound good.

"Destroy suns?" Sam asked.

"How? By blowing them up and sucking all the energy or something?" I asked. Jetfire nodded. "Exactly. You see, in the beginning, there were seven Primes, our original leaders. And they set out into the universe, seeking distant suns to harvest. The primes set out with one rule: never destroy a planet with life. Until one of them tried to defy this rule. And his name forevermore was The Fallen"

Jetfire must have had a projector in his palm, because it lit up and suddenly there was a hologram in front of us. "He despised the human race and he wanted to kill you all by turning on that machine. The only way to activate it is with a legendary key called the Matrix of Leadership.

"A great battle took place over possession of the Matrix. The Fallen was stronger than his brothers, so they had no choice but to steal and hide it from him. In the ultimate sacrifice, they gave their lives to seal the Matrix away in a tomb made of their very own bodies. A tomb we cannot find"

Projection goes away. "Somewhere, buried in this desert, that deadly machine remains. The fallen knows where it is and if he finds the tomb of the Primes, your world will be no more"

Sam got closer to Jetfire.

"How do we stop him, then?" I asked. "Only a Prime can defeat the Fallen" Jetfire said firmly.

"Optimus Prime?"

Sam said it curiously, with no hint of guilt, but I knew how he was feeling. He'd feel even more guilty because he would feel like it was his fault our only hope was dead.

"So, you've met a Prime?" Jetfire made the Primes sound like movie-stars. I guess to Cybertronians, they were, especially if Optimus was the very last. "Why, you must have met a great descendant. Is he alive, here, on this planet" Jet fire sounded so excited. My heart broke.

"He sacrificed himself to save me"

Jetfire bowed him head sadly "So he's dead. Without a Prime, it's impossible. No one else could stop the Fallen"

"So, the same energy that's gonna be used to reactivate the machine, could that energy somehow be used to reactivate Optimus and bring him back to life?" Sam asked. I smiled. Instead of being guilty, he was being productive. Better than me right now.

"it was never designed for that purpose, but it's an energy like no other" Jetfire told us. "So, then, how do you get us to the Matrix before the Decepticons get to me?" Sam wondered. "Follow your mind, your map, your symbols!" Jetfire cried. "What you carved in the sand, it's your clue! 'When dawn alights the Dagger's Tip, Three Kings will reveal the doorway'! Find the doorway!"

Jetfire almost hit Sam with his shooing motion. "Go now, go! That was my mission. It's your mission now. Go, before the Decepticons find me and find you" we ran.

We all piled into Bee – I don't think anyone felt safe enough to get into Mudflap or Skids – and were zooming across the desert. Simmons got off the phone he had been talking into since we got in the car. "Okay, here's what my CIA contact says: Ancient Sumerians used to call the Gulf of Aqaba the 'Dagger's Tip'"

"That's the Dagger's Tip" Sam and Simmons were bonding up front. In truth, I felt left out. Again.

Shooter was curled up on my shoulder, trying to be cute, because he knows it'll make me smile. Wheelie seemed to pick up on my mood as well, because instead of being a perverted, rude little bot, he was curled up in my lap watching me carefully, like he thought I was going to break into a million pieces.

A part of my mind was still focused on the odd way the bots were treating me, and it was trying to piece togther all the pieces of the puzzle, but I didn't know enough. I didn't have enough information to figure out what was going on.

"It's part of the Red Sea" Simmons was saying. "It divides Egypt and Jordan like the tip of a blade" I knew that, but I kept silent. "29.5 degrees north, 35 east. Here it is" he showed Sam the picture on the GPS.

"Okay, first thing we got to do is get Optimus to the Dagger's Tip" Sam said. For a guy that didn't want to get involved, he was great at giving orders. "How are you gonna get him halfway around the world?' Leo asked.

"I'm gonna make a call"

There was a siren. Two cop cars were heading towards us down one fork on the road we were heading towards. "We got cops" Sam announced. Bee swerved and headed down the other fork, making the two cop cars swerve, when I noticed another on behind us. "I can't go to prison, guy!" Leo cried.

The Autobots sped down the road, chased by the cops. "Sam, we got to get of this road and lay low" Simmons said. I would have snapped at him to tell Bee, but Sam was actually the one driving, kind of. Maybe it was both of them.

* * *

><p>We hid down a dark, small alley, hidden so even if the cops peered down here, they would see us. "Man, stupid cops" Skids whined. I turned to see Mudflap and bee holding onto a roof while Bee held onto the ankle of an upside down Skids.<p>

"This is what's called blending in like a ninja" I ignored the twins, like always. "We're safe, for now" I told them.

"Okay, we're running out of time. I gotta make the call to Lennox…" Sam started, but Simmons interrupted with a fair point. "You're on the worldwide Wanted List. Try calling one base, they'll track you here in seconds. CIA all over the place"

"I'll call" they all turned to look at me. "What? It's not like it'll look suspicious. I baby-sit for them all the time, everyone on that base known I'm on a first-name-basis with Will" I rationalized.

**3****rd**** POV**

_New Jersey_

"_NEST departure, 2100 hours"_ the PA announced. "So we're shipping him back to base. This is such a mistake" Will ranted. "Major Lennox" a voice said from behind him, "Phone call"

"Hello?"

"Will" Will recognized the voice instantly. "Linds, this isn't the best time…"

"It's about Prima" Will froze. He and Lindsey had come up with a code in case something ever happened and they needed to talk about the Autobots or anything to do with them, but couldn't risk being overheard. Prima meant Optimus Prime.

"Remember that accident? How the vet said there was nothing he could do?" she was talking about the battle that had killed Optimus. "Yeah"

"There's this guy that says they're wrong. He can help. Name kinda sounds like Willy Wonka" that meant Sam. Sam found a way to bring Optimus back. "There's one thing, though. They guy lives in Egypt"

"Egypt? I don't know, Linds. That seems like a lot of trouble" meaning: I don't know if I can get Optimus into another country right now.

"Will, it's really important. Remember that big dog down the street that was always attacking everyone? Prima's the only one that can stop him, and she can't if she's hurt" meaning there's a Decepticon only Optimus can kill.

"Listen, here are the coordinates. This guy lives out in the middle of no-where. 29.5 north, 34.88 east. You might want to write it down. Anyway, this guy says if we don't do it soon, there's nothing he can do"

Will sighed. "alright, I'll see what I can do. Hopefully I can get down there soon with Prima"

"Alright. Talk to you later Will" She said happily.

"Bye Linds" Will hung up and looked at Robert Epps. "You get all that?" Will asked his best friend. Robert nodded. "Oh yeah"


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N – I love how Will treats Galloway of the plane. It's hilarious. And I love the note he leaves for the General. 'Get ready to bring the rain…' that is so awesome!**

* * *

><p><strong>Lindsey's POV<strong>

I dropped the payphone. Shooter was miffed I didn't use him, but I couldn't risk it. Sam was wanted, and people in high places knew I was in a relationship with him. Payphone was safer.

"That sounded like a normal conversation. The only thing remotely suspicious was the coordinates" Simmons commented. I shrugged. "Will and I, along with Everyone in NEST, knew that the government wasn't found of the Autobots. We came up with the code in case something like this every happened" I explained.

Leo came running up to us, using the woman's face-mask thing. I snorted. He was so girly. "Wait, who are you?" Simmons asked, stopping him. "It's me. Leo. Me. Leo. Leo. Leo. The cops are coming, we've got to go" after he said that I could hear the sounds of sirens.

We all started running.

* * *

><p>"Okay, let's go over it again" Sam said after we'd been driving a while.<p>

"'When the dawn alights the Dagger's Tip, the three Kings will reveal the doorway" Sam and Simmons aid together. This was just like before we ran into those cops. Simmons and Sam in front, Leo and me in back, feeling left out.

"That's what he said. You know what it means?" Simmons asked.

"No, what does it mean?" Sam asked, thinking Simmons knew the answer. It was a rhetorical question. "I have no idea" I rolled my eyes. "When the sun rises, and the light just hits the Dagger's Tip. That's what the first part means. The Three Kings could me mountains, pyramids, anything. But it's happen at dawn" I said.

"Crap. Checkpoint. I don't have my passport" Leo cried as we pulled up to a checkpoint. Shooter tucked himself into my pocket and transformed, while Wheelie hid behind Simmons' seat, next to me.

"Passport!" a guard called. I couldn't tell if it was a woman or a man with a really high-pitch voice.

"They got cameras at the top" Sam said quietly while the guard – the head guard I'm guessing – came down. "All right, chill. This is espionage now. I can handle it. These are my people. I'm 1/36 Arab" really? I had to roll my eyes.

"Great, a frickin' Munchkin. Little people are mean. Tell him he's tall" Wheelie said. "Wheelie" I hissed quietly. He ducked under and hid between my legs and the bottom of the seat.

The guard ran his finger along Bee's hood as he, I'm guessing he's a guy, approached Simmons' window. Why he didn't come to the driver's window, I don't know. Oh,wait. America is the only country people drive on the right side of the road. The right side is the driver's side here. Anyway, they both said something in what I'm assuming is Arabic or something. Suddenly, Simmons' started talking in English.

"The Dagger's Tip. Egypt, Jordan. We want to go there. Me and my family. This is my son," he put Sam in a headlock to show the guard, "my other son," he gestured towards Leo," and my beautiful daughter" I blushed at the compliment. It's a good thing my hair got darker in the past two years. It was a really dark brown. And I had gotten tanner from the Tranquility heat. We all actually looked pretty alike.

"We're tourists, from New York" those were the magic words.

"New York!" the guard said excitedly.

"Yes, yes"

The guard excited pointed to the gate and said "Fifty kilometers"

"You look like the guy that runs my falafel stand. Thank you very much" I don't know why Simmons said that, but I didn't care. We got through!

* * *

><p>Once we were far enough away, all the bots transformed and we were running. "Shh. Undercover, yo. You got to blend in with your surroundings" Skids wouldn't shut up. "You know, you gotta be part of the landscape" he quickly slammed into bee and fell, while Bee didn't even flinch. I smiled.<p>

We quickly ran to an old, abandoned pyramid. Sam got the doors open and, like a gentleman, let me in first. But right as I was walking in, Simmons came up right behind me and shoved me. "Come on. Move it! Move it!"

"Hey, no shoving the Mistress!" Wheelie snapped. Sam looked at him oddly, but nothing was said.

"Guard us" Sam told the Autobots. "Low profile. Don't make a scene, okay?"

"Yeah, some of us got work to do!" Wheelie added. I knew he wanted to insult the Autobots, but he knew I wouldn't like it. I don't understand why that swayed his decision, but it did.

* * *

><p>Night fell quickly. Sam and I were resting on a perch at the base of the pyramid, high up, staring at the stars. I don't know where Simmons and Leo went, but I didn't really care right then. Shooter was with Wheelie, but I didn't know where they were, either.<p>

"Being my girlfriend is hazardous to your health" Sam commented.

"So was being your best friend. At least as your girlfriend I can dramatically kiss you when we're in a deadly situation" I joked. I was laying between him legs, head resting on his shoulder. I loved to closeness; it felt like we hadn't been this close in a long time.

"Why won't you say it?" I asked suddenly. He knew what I meant.

"Ladies first" I was somewhere between pissed and ready to cry my eyes out.

"You do realize I just flew 3,000 miles, ran over a Decepticon, and let you drag me all the way to Egypt to keep you from getting killed, right?" I sighed. "I know" he answered quietly.

"You know I would do this as your best friend, but what other girl could be your girlfriend, having to fill those criteria?" (**Haha, DotM spoiler! I really don't like Carly**) I shook my head and sat up, facing him. "Look at everything we've gone through. And now, under the moon and the stars and the three most beautiful pyramids on the planet, and you still can't admit you love me. I'm not even sure if it's true anymore"

I didn't mean to say that. I knew it hurt. I was about to say something when I realized: three. Pyramids. Sam and I looked at each other. Looks like we both realized it. "Come on" he grabbed my hand and we ran to find Simmons and Leo.

I love how, after everything we've gone through, we still don't know Simmons' first name. It's funny.

"Simmons, Leo, wake up!" Sam yelled as we ran. "Listen, astronomy class, page 47. Remember the class?" Sam asked. Oh, when he had the meltdown.

"No, I was only in college for two days. Remember that?" Leo snapped sleepily.

"Here. Get up. Up, up!" We stared running again, Sam assuming they were following us. When we got outside, it was either false dawn or right after false dawn. "Okay, you see those three stars?" Sam asked, pointing to three bright stars that were pointing like an arrow.

"You see how the last one touches the horizon? That's Orion's belt, but it's also called the Three kings. And the reason for that is the three Egyptian kings who built the pyramids of Giza built them to mirror those stars" Sam explained.

I knew what he was getting at. "It's an arrow" I said.

"They all point due east, towards Jordan. The mountains of Petra" Simmons told us, pointing.

* * *

><p>And we were off again, speeding through the desert. When he got to the point where we couldn't drive through, we all got out and started walking. "It's gotta be around here somewhere" Simmons panted, looking at his GPS from behind Sam.<p>

Sam stopped, and we all followed his gaze. It was a giant building built into the rocks. It looked like palace or something. We quickly headed for it. It had to be what we were looking for. "You see the size of this? You see this?" Simmons asked excitedly. "Spectacular" Skids commented.

We ran to the entrance. The step up was almost as tall as I was. Sam grabbed my hands and Leo lifted my foot to help me up before Sam helped him up as well.

"It's here somewhere, guys" Sam said. I looked around the seemingly empty room. But I could feel something, like a thrumming, like what I felt with the Alspark. "Oh yeah? Why? 'Cause we're trusting Grandpa Blackbird who doesn't even know what planet he's on?" Leo asked sarcastically, looking around.

"In his defense, this is the biggest doorway I've ever seen in my entire life" Simmons said, staring at the doorway. "Huh. Okay. Well, that's great. Let me do a quick search, all right? Uh, nope. Ever cross your mind, guys, that archeologists have been here before? There's nothing here" Leo was beginning to annoy me.

"Real life is heartbreak, despair, kid. Sometimes you get to the end of the rainbow and the leprechauns went and booby-trapped it!" Simmons shouted. Sam was sitting by the giant painting, head down, feeing horrible. I was standing in the middle of the room, eyes closed. I could feel the thrumming, I could feel the Matrix, I just couldn't tell where it was. But it was here, it was close.

"I'm listening to you? You live with your mother!" Leo snapped.

"Guys" they all went silent. "It's here" I didn't open my eyes, but I could tell they felt surprised. My voice sounded different. More whimsical, more echo-y. As if there was more than one voice, or like you would imagine with a fortune teller or prophetess. Like what I imagined the Alspark's voice would have sounded like.

"Why are we still listening to your little punk-asses? I mean, what you ever done for us except ding my rims?" Mudflap said meanly. I could feel them all moving around me, but I didn't move an inch.

"Killed Megatron. How about that?" Skids defended us. I wanted to smile, but I was still focusing on the thrum, trying to find the Matrix.

"Well, he didn't get the job done, you know what I mean, cause he's back now…" Mudflap snapped. "Are you scared?" Skids goaded.

"Scared? Scared of your ugly face!" Mudflap dissed.

"I'm ugly? Well, we're twins, you stupid genius!" they started fighting and didn't watch where the human were. I felt them almost crush me several times. Shooter was hissing at them and Wheelie was yelling, but I didn't react. I could only tell they were fighting with the smallest portion of my concentration. i could almost tell where the Matrix was…

Suddenly, I heard a crash. At that exact moment, the signal became much strong. My eyes flew open and I saw that the painting was broken, and there was a hole in the middle. "Stop!" my voice still sounded weird, but it got all of them to stop fighting.

Even the twins were quiet as I walked to the hole. I could almost hear singing, that's how strong the connection was becoming. "It's here" I repeated my earlier statement.

Sam wrapped his arms around me and pulled me away. "Bee! Shoot it"

Bee shot the painting, and right where the hole was, there was a giant tunnel-like thing. "Well I'll be damned, the chick was right" Mudflap muttered. Skids slapped him on the back of the head. "What I tell you?"

I shivered as we walked through. "Are you alright?' Sam asked me, worried. "It's like a graveyard" I replied.

"These are the bodies Jetfire was talking about" Sam said as a general statement, though it could be an extension of my comment. "The tomb of the Primes" Simmons said in wonder. And then we spotted it. Well, Sam spotted it. "The Matrix" As Sam went to grab it, I swear I heard voices. "_Earned, not found_" were the most clear and common words.

Just as Sam grabbed it, it disintegrated into dust. I felt a sharp pain in my head, but it was gone as quickly as it came, along with the voices.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N – This is gonna be a long one. What's happening to Lindsey? Will you find out anytime soon?**

**Hopefully, no.**

"**Mean robots suck" I love Skids. I also love how Simmons tells off that Captain. It was so funny!**

**This was not going to be nearly as long as it is, but if I separated it the way I had planned, the next chapter would only have been two pages and that's not really worth it.**

**Disclaimer – I want it, but that doesn't mean I own it. If I did, we'd see way more of Lennox dissing Galloway. Or Ironhide shoot Galloway. Something like that.**

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><p>We all stared at the spot the Matrix had been sadly. We couldn't believe all our work was for nothing. Sam looked like he was about to cry.<p>

"Thousands of years, turned to dust" Simmons mused.

"This isn't how it's supposed to end" Sam insisted. There was a rumble, like a plane, overhead. "Hear that?" Simmons asked, looking towards the opening. He went running. "US Air force. C-17s!" he sounded so happy.

"What's a C-17?" Leo asked, walking after Simmons.

I was staring at Sam, who wouldn't look away from the dust. "Sam. We have to have faith. We didn't just go through all of this for it to end here" I told him. Sam nodded. "You're right. There is a reason we're here. The voices and the symbols in my head led us here for a purpose"

Sam took of his sock and shoved as much dust as he could into it. I wrinked my nose slightly, but didn't say anything. It was a good idea.

"Everyone's after me because of what I know, and what I know it that this is going to work" Sam said while he was dumping the dust into his sock. I smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. He stopped for a moment to look at me. "Faith" I said again. "This is your destiny"

* * *

><p>We ran out to meet Leo and Simmons, who were standing on a rock almost as tall as the palacebuilding/thing. "Sam!" Simmons called. He and Leo climbed off of the rock, still watching the Air Force drop off Optimus.

"You think you can bring him back to life with that pixie dust?" Simmons asked Sam. I grabbed Sam's hand. "Not think, believe" I told him. He snorted; in his mind belief was no better. But it was all we had and all we needed.

We started running towards where the soldiers were landing, but it was a couple miles away. Bee and the twins drove up and parked in our way, Bee's doors open. We looked at each other before we all climbed in. It was faster than running.

I saw a flare go up in the air. "There!" I pointed between Simmons and Sam. "That's them. Right over there" Sam agreed.

And then the mysterious missiles – which could only have been sent by a Decepticon – started crashing around us. We are so lucky our cars were Autobots, or we would have been toast.

We stopped and all got out about half-way. "We've got to split up. Bumblebee, you're the decoy. You lead the Decepticons away, all right?" Sam strategized. "Sorry Bee" I said. "I'm gonna get Optimus"

"I'll help draw their fire with Huey and Dewey there" Simmons offered, pointing at the twins. "You get to those soldiers. I hope that dust works, kid"

"Simmons" he looked at me. "You're not half bad. I'm really glad we're working on the same side this time" I told him, grinning. He shot me a small smile and nodded. "For a tempermental chick, you're a good girl, Lindsey" I told me.

Sam grabbed my arm, and we started running.

We stopped at a cliff-drop when the soldiers popped a few more flares in the air, in the middle of a village. "There it is. We got a couple of miles" Sam pulled me along again. "It's a good thing I can run long distance" I panted.

We ran for what seemed like forever. "We still have a mile that way" Sam panted as we got to just outside the edge of the village. We ran as fast as we could towards where we had seen the flares originate.

We were running through pillars when the missiles rained again. "Sam" I said nervously, quietly. He squeezed my hand reassuringly, but said nothing.

We stopped for a moment, and I found myself leaning against a door of an abandoned house. "Sam! Over here" he followed me inside. At least now we had shelter and weren't so exposed. "I don't think they saw us" Sam gasped as he shut the door.

I looked around. The house wasn't very sound and had a lot of cracks and holes, but it would do for now. "Get down" I crouched down to avoid being seen, and same crouched down across from me. "Listen. Once it's clear, we run for Optimus as fast as we can, okay?" he explained. I nodded. Sam started to get up, but then there was a loud bang that sent his to the other side of the shelf across from me.

It, whatever it _was_, was outside the door. I stayed as silent as possible; chanting in my head _there isn't anything here, go away. You don't want to go inside, it will be a waste of time_. Sam poked a whole in the wall to see what was going outside without being obvious about it. I didn't look at him, unsure about how much control I had over my body.

Sam stood up and crushed a small Decepticon bug. Seconds later, the ceiling was ripped off of the house we were hiding in.

Sam and I both screamed. We ran from the Decepticon, hoping we could get away. I was panicking; we had to get to Optimus! It was our only hope!

We ran along the stairs/wall/whatever to get away when I reached a ledge. 'Get ready to jump" Sam cried, grabbing my hand again. Right as the Decepticon shot, we jumped across the alley, to the other roof. There was dust from the destroyed building everywhere.

We kept rolling, and fell off of the roof, onto the ground below. It hurt, but I dismissed the pain. We got up and started running for Optimus. We stopped for a moment, when we were sure we had a moment of safety.

"We got another half-mile. I don't think the soldiers know we're here" Sam said. We ran again. It was pretty much open space between us and Optimus now, and we could only hope that the Decepticons would kill us. There was nowhere to hide and nothing to fight back with.

But we stopped short when we saw Sam's parents running towards us. No! What were they doing here! And then we heard the unmistakable sound of a Decepticon.

Sam and I flew, and right as I landed, the Decepticon shot at me, missing me by maybe half a foot.

"Wait, wait!" Sam cried. Ron was yelling for Sam to run, but Sam had to be the hero. "Dad, just stop! They don't want you, they want me!" Sam cried. "Don't hurt them. This is what you want" he held out the sock to the robot. "You don't want them. Just don't hurt them. I know what you want. And I know that you need me because I know about the Matrix" What was he doing! "Here's what you want, right here" Sam kept waving the sock around.

Then, "BUMBLEBEE!" Bee jumped off of a building and onto the Decepticon. It was a massive fight we were hard-pressed to avoid. Sam fell and quickly scooted himself to my side.

But Bee was kicking his ass. Then what looked like a Cybertronian cat tackled him, taking a huge chunk out of Bee. I hated not doing anything, but here was nothing I could do, and Sam was already pulled me away, heading for his parents.

We watched as Bee killed the Decepticon, and then we took off running. "I don't know what's going on, but we've got to move!" Ron cried. A missile landed close to us, but not close enough to knock us over.

"There's got to be a way out of here!" we tried to find some shelter for them. I knew we needed to get to Optimus before time ran out, but Sam's parents needed to me safe. "Bumblebee!" Sam cried. Bumblebee appeared close to us. "You get them somewhere safe, all right?" Sam ordered. Sam turned to his dad. "You've got to get in the car and get to safety" he told him.

"No!" Ron shouted. "This isn't up for discussion! You're my son! We all go together"

"I know. Listen, Dad, stop. Get in the car. He's gonna get you to safety. You know, you run. You don't stop, you don't hide, you run. You hear what I'm saying, okay? I'll find you when you're safe"

"No!"

"You have to let me go. You have to" Sam insisted. "Ron" Judy said gently. "Ron, let him go" Ron looked furious, but nodded. "You come back!" he looked at me. "Both of you! You come back!" they ran for Bee.

Sam came up to me. "Go with my parents" I shook my head. "We're in this together. Forever" I vowed. He swallowed hard, but grabbed my hand. We ran again.

* * *

><p>I was wrong about the cover. We found another building to duck under when we saw some Autobots. I don't think I've ever been so relieved in my life. "Ironhide!" Sam shouted. Arcee rolled up to us instead. "Follow us to the pillars. We'll take you to Optimus" she explained.<p>

Just then, she was shot. "Get out Sam! Lindsey! Get to the pillars!" Ironhide yelled. We started running. We were so close!

It was like the eye of the storm. We were headed straight for a major battlefield. But that's where Optimus is, so we kept running, trying to avoid missiles and bullets. There were explosions everywhere. One landed close enough to knock us over.

We didn't dare get up, but we tried to move forward. I saw Will motioning us over. I slapped Sam to get his attention and ran to Will. "Lindsey, come on!" When I got to him, he wrapped me into a quick hug, trying to avoid poking me with his big gun.

"Thank God you're safe. Sara and Anna would kill me if anything happened to you" he muttered into my hair before letting go.

He pulled Sam and I behind the wall he was using for cover. "You better have a good reason for us to be here" Will said to Sam. Sam just asked, "Where's Optimus" Will pointed, "He's right over there, across the courtyard" of course we would have to run and avoid blasts again.

"I gotta get to him right now" Sam told Will, holding out his sock. "Not with an air strike coming" Will contradicted. "I have to get to him right now!" Sam snapped. But Will wasn't looking at Sam anymore. "Back, back, back" Will pushed us toward Epps in the corner. The wall was only a short, square U-shape with the ceiling, after all.

There was a Decepticon right behind us, shooting. I swallowed hard, trying not to freak out. I had done thing before…except now Mission City didn't seem so bad.

And then I heard Jetfire, and I sighed happily. He wasn't all there, and he malfunctioned a lot, but he was help, and we needed a lot of it. "Now let me show you how we brought pain in my day!" he cried after he had tackled the Decepticon behind us.

Will looked nervous. "He's okay, Will. He's on the Autobots side" I reassured him. He nodded, still watching Jetfire. I smiled as Jetfire decapitated that Decepticon, but another one launched itself at him. Where did they all come from?

Jetfire fell, smashing the Decepticon's head. "I'm too old for this crap" I heard him mumble. I laughed softly, but quickly turned my attention back to the battle.

Will turned to us. "We're gonna make a break through the B's on my command, okay? You guys stick with me, you understand? You stay on my ass" I smiled slightly at his terminology, but I guess life as a soldier made you blunt. Ironhide, Will, and Epps certainly were.

We nodded. "I hope these F-16s got good aim" Epps muttered. "Yeah, why's that?" Will asked him, not looking at him. "I told them to hit the orange smoke"

We were surrounded by orange smoke. "You mean that orange smoke?' Will asked sarcastically. "It wasn't my best toss, okay?" Epps said defensively, though his voice was level and calm. It was oddly quiet.

"Viper, thunder" I heard from their radio.

"Run!" they both cried. We ran as fast as we could, sticking close to Will, heading for Optimus. "Incoming" Epps shouted as we avoiding the blasts from the Air Force. "Come on!" Will grabbed my hand, and I grabbed onto Sam, so that we stayed together.

Sam broke away from us. "Sam!" Will cried, but we kept heading off to the right. I wanted to go after him, but Will wouldn't let me go.

There was another explosion and we all fell. I looked over to see a Decepticon aiming at Sam and shooting right at him. I saw Sam flying, landing right next to Optimus. "Sam!" I screamed, trying to get up, trying to go to him, but Will grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into his chest so I couldn't move.

The smoke cleared and revealed the Decepticon that had shot Sam. I was still struggling to get free of Will as I watched. That blasted Decepticon was finally taken down by the tanks and Will loosened his grip enough that I broke free, heading straight for Sam.

"Hold your fire!" I faintly heard Will shout from behind me. I stumbled and fell right next to Sam's still body. I tried to get to him, but Will landed behind me and pulled me back. "Stay back! Lindsey, get back!"

Will started doing CPR as I kneeling beside Sam, helpless. My head was throbbing and I couldn't focus, it was like my brain was being overloaded. I could feel every single spark, Autobot and Decepticon alike, around me. I could hear everything around me, but I couldn't make sense of it. It was too much.

"SAM!" it all went away. Like in Mission City, but more drastic. All I could see and feel and think about was Sam. I felt – somewhere, in the back of my brain – Will pull me way from Sam. I sub-consciously fought him, trying to get back to the guy I loved.

"NO!" I shrieked, so loud and shrill most of the soldiers and some of the Autobots near-by covered their eyes. I crawled over to Sam and leaned over.

"Sam, listen to me. Listen to my voice. I need you. Sam, I love you, you hear me! I love you, you idiot! Please, come back to me! Please!"

Suddenly, Sam shot up, gasping. "I love you" he murmured. "I love you" I couldn't help but smile. He pushed me away gently, and grabbed the newly-formed Matrix. My smile became a grin. "I told you. Destiny"

Sam didn't reply as he climbed onto Optimus until he was directly over Optimus' spark. He lifted the Matrix like a knife and stabbed it into Optimus' spark.

Optimus got up, clearly alive, and set Sam onto the ground before saying, "Boy, you returned for me."

"A living Prime!" Jetfire exclaimed joyfully. "I don't believe it!" The Fallen appeared right behind Optimus, stabbing at us randomly with his…stick? Sector? Whatever. "My Matrix" he said, looking at Optimus.

It floated in the air before he snatched it, stomping on a comparatively smaller Optimus before disappearing.

"Get up!" Sam repeatedly yelled at Optimus. He was our only hope; we did NOT resurrect him for nothing! "Get up, Prime!" Ironhide concurred loudly. "Oh no" Jetfire said sadly. "he's turning on the machine! You've got to stop him. Get up!" Sam cried. "Optimus!"

"All my Decepticon life, I never did a thing worth doing until now" I looked at Jetfire in surprise and anticipation. "Optimus, take my parts, and you will have a power you've never known. Fulfill your destiny" Jetfire ripped out his spark.

"Jolt! Electrify!" Ratchet cried. "Transplant those afterburners" coils appeared from Jolt, connecting to both Jetfire and Optimus. Parts started to move from Jetfire to Optimus. Optimus stood, now about twice his usual size, ready for battle.

"Let's roll"

He launched himself into the sky and we all ran to the pyramid that housed the machine. There was a circle of debris and soldiers floating around like a mini asteroid belt. Optimus and the Fallen fought all over the place. I couldn't see it, but their blasts were loud and clear.

All was calm as I heard, and felt, Optimus kill the Fallen. I like the Autobot term for death, offline, better. We all stopped and starred as a victorious Optimus stood tall beside the Sphinx's head. I smiled before turning and throwing my arms around Sam. He arms automatically wrapped around my waist, and the soldier's cheered.

"I can't believe it took almost dying for you to tell me you love me" I muttered into his shoulder. He pulled me back so our foreheads were touching so he could look into my eyes. "You said it first" he whispered.

We turned to see a battered, but safe Ron and Judy walking towards us. They pulled us both into a hug, glad we were safe.

* * *

><p>We were all standing around the deck of a ship taking up home. Sam and I stood at the end of the runway, looking out at the water while everyone else socialized and celebrated.<p>

"Thank you, Sam, for saving my life" Optimus voice was expect, so we simply turned and smiled. "Thank Lindsey. She kept me going with her eternal faith" I blushed. "Thank you, for believing in me as well" Sam added.

_Our races united by a history long forgotten and a future we shall face together. I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message so that our pass will always be remembered, for in those memories, we live on._


	18. Chapter 18

"Optimus, can I talk to you?" the giant bot turned to peer down at me. "Lindsey. What is on your mind?" he asked warmly. I smiled at him. "It's back. The empathy. And the bots are calling me Mistress. Something is going on. I feel this connection to the Cybertronians. Do you know anything?" I pleaded, needing answers.

"I cannot give you the answers you seek, not now. All I can assume is that you are sensitive to the cube and it somehow reached out to you. Made you sensitive to our kind. That kind of power, though it does not physically change you, gives you a certain aura, as you humans say, or power"

I frowned at his words. "Something big is going to happen, isn't it? Somethin that will finally open the eyes of everyoe on earth"

"Lindsey, the day shall come that Earth joins the rest of the universe" was all he said.

* * *

><p>Sam returned to Princeton. He and Leo got along really well now. Leo was still a bit of a wanna-be-playboy idiot, but I think the Battle in Egypt matured him. He shut down and kicked Sharsky and Fassbinder to the curb.<p>

I was there, along with a sympathetic Bumblebee, when John was released from prison. I had been paying rent for his apartment myself before the Autobots had come, but after Mission City, the government had been helping me cover that so that John, and I, would have a place to stay.

I slowly got John back on his feet, but it wasn't the same. He understood that I wasn't the same person anymore, and I didn't need the shadows from my past to try and drag me back. He was still doing rehab an addicts meetings, but he pushed me to do my own thing and see Sam whenever I could.

I had nothing to lose, so I ended up getting an apartment somewhere between Sam's college campus and Washington DC. I still visited Will, Sarah, and Anna one weekend a month, and saw Keller and his family frequently. It was because of John - Keller, that is - that I got my first job in DC as the personal assistant to a car collector.

And let me tell you, it was a lot of work. The place was a mess and I think it took me a year just to get everything organized. My boss didn't mind that I hadn't gone to college, and was generous with my paycheck.

More Autobots came, and we found that my connection with them had returned. It wasn't automatic, and I didn't feel every little thing, but I could sense them, wherever they were. It was a peculiar thing, but we adjusted.

Sam aced college. He and Leo hacked into the college system ever year to be sure they were always roommates. I had laughed when they told me. Leo was moving on, still dreaming of being a baby-billionaire. But he still came for lunch every month.

Ron and Judy went back to France, to try and enjoy it this time and hopefully not get kidnapped again. They enjoyed it, but admitted to me that they preferred being here with us.

Sam and I grew a lot closer. Now that we, finally, admitted we loved each other, there was really nothing to stop us from moving on in our relationship. I must admit that I was waiting for a proposal, but I knew it wasn't coming any time soon.

Shooter and Wheelie still called me Mistress, as well as some of the other, new bots. It seemed even they didn't understand why. I had, reluctantly, given Shooter to Sarah because she needed him more than I did. This way, she could always be in contact with Will or one of the Autobots. And Shooter was never out of range.

The next four years passed quickly and somewhat peacefully.

What was that about jinxing it?


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N – T3 up and going! I think it's awesome that Buzz Aldrin and Bill O'Reilley played themselves in this movie.**

**Disclaimer – I do not own anything Transformers.**

* * *

><p><em>We were once a peaceful race of intelligent, mechanical beings. But then came the war between the Autobots, who fought for freedom and the Decepticons who dreamt of tyranny. Overmatched and outnumbered, our defeat was all but certain. But in the war's final days, one Autobot ship escaped the battle. It was carrying a secret cargo, which would have changed our planet's fate. A desperate mission. Our final hope. A hope that vanished.<em>

_In the years since our arrival, our new home, Earth, has seen much change. Energon detectors guard its cities now. Long-range defense systems watch the skies. So now we assist our allies in solving human conflicts, to prevent mankind from bringing harm to itself. We work in secret teams on various missions around the globe. And all the while we search for signs of our true enemies' return._

Sam was still asleep in bed. He had moved in with me after he graduated, although he's been living with me every summer while in college, so it was more like four years.

I had made breakfast and laid it out on the table. So now I was going up the stairs to wake Sam, in only my panties and one of his button-up shirts.

A year or two ago, and I would not have been comfortable enough to do this. But our relationship has grown since Egypt, and now I was pretty much comfortable enough to do anything around Sam.

"Sammy. Time to wake up" I said softly, smiling. It was a bright, sunny day and Sam was facing the giant window of my warehouse-like apartment. I grabbed the overly-large blue stuffed rabbit's foot I had bought him and hid it behind my back.

When I reached the end of the bed and Sam was on his back looking at me, I held it out for him. "What is that?" he asked me, playfully. I rolled my eyes. "It's your lucky rabbit's foot!" I cried, tossing it to him gently.

"It's a nice thought, Linds, but I don't think a rabbit's foot is going to help" he told me. I rolled my eyes again and got onto the bed, plopping onto his waist so I was straddling him.

"It's just a good-luck charm to keep your spirits up" I told him. He pulled me down to kiss me, but I was having none of it…yet. I pulled away and quickly got off, walking towards the one of the bars I used to hang our clothes, like they have at fashion shows.

"I got you a new tie. I really want you to wear it" I told him, jutting out my hip and pouting, giving him the look we both knew he couldn't resist.

"Do you need any money?' I asked him, picking out my outfit for today. Sam sighed, closing his eyes in frustration. "No I don't need any money" I smiled, knowing he wasn't frustrated with me, and went back downstairs.

'You love it, don't you?" Sam called from over the railing. "You and your feminist thinking, I'm just your boy toy" I giggled, knowing he was teasing. "Never" I playfully gasped. "You know how demoralizing it is to have saved the world twice and still be groveling for a job?" he asked me.

"Sam, I saved the world too, ya know. But you didn't want to use your connections with Maggie or Keller, you're the one that wanted to get a job the honest way. And I applaud you for that, you're a better person than me, but still" I told him.

"They already paid for my college, and I have that President's Medal" he reminded me. I nodded absentmindedly. "I remember"

_Sam came running out of the White House, showing me his Hero Medal. I laughed at his childish excitement and gave him a kiss on the cheek before leading him and his parents to the car._

"Sam, you're fresh out of college with no experience, you're gonna have a hard time getting a job no matter what!" I told him as I changed into my mid-thigh length lilac dress. Sam always told me purple was one of my best colors. Well, one of his favorite colors on me, anyway.

"I don't have time. My parents are gonna be here in a week on their "'road trip Partybus World Tour'" I finished in unison with Sam. I nodded, "And Ron will freak if you don't have a job yet"

Sam came up behind me and turned me around. I sat down on my sink and wrapped my legs around his, dragging the toe off my dark purple heels up and down his leg. "Alright. Well, tell him you have a job already" I told him as he kissed up my arm to my shoulder. "What's that" he said in between kisses. "Entertaining me" I mumbled against his lips.

Then I heard a clank. Sam and I broke apart to see Wheelie smacking Brains, who had apparently been watching us make out. "Don't spy on de Mistress, junk-head" Wheelie said, dragging Brains away. "Humph" I groaned, letting my head fall onto Sam's chest.

"I know that someone's gotta be here for them, but can't we at least get rid of them for one day?' I asked, knowing the answer already.

Sam kissed my forehead and let me down, knowing I had to leave for work. I sighed and walked to the staircase and grabbed my purse. "I love you!" Sam called as I headed for the door. I looked over my shoulder and shouted "Love ya too" before leaving.

**3****rd**** POV**

Sam tried to ignore Wheelie smacking Brains and got ready for his interviews. He really appreciated Lindsey letting the Autobots stay; although she probably wants them there more than he did. She did, after all, pretty much adopt Wheelie. He wasn't entirely fond of the bots, but he liked them more than he let on.

If only they would stop hitting on his girlfriend.

Sam went outside, only to hear voices. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea"

"Didn't have to stop" Sam looked up to see his parents parking their RV across the dinky street. "Come on. What're they going to do, tow it? Where is he?" his jacket slipped out from between his teeth as he tried to process the information that his parents were here early.

"Sammy!" Sam wanted to hide, but he knew it would be useless. And Lindsey would be pissed if he smashed his head in. "I missed you guys so much" Sam only partially lied; he did miss them, he just wished they hadn't come yet.

"Sure you did. What do you think" his mom gestured towards their matching green jogging suits. Sam smiled and walked over to his parents, giving them both hugs. "I love your little tie. Hey, where's my girl? Where's my wonderful Lindsey?" Judy asked.

"She's at work, Ma" Sam told her. "She's got that job, remember? You guys said you were gonna be here in a week. The 21st, not the 11th, dad, remember?"

"We just hauled ass in this thing. We stopped for gas" Ron told him. "This thing. The love tub, it flies" Sam wanted to flinch at him mother's words. Judy finally seemed to notice that Sam was fidgeting. "Oh, are we keeping you from something? Like, say, your job?"

"Well, it's about time, you had us worried" Ron said.

"Umm, I have job interviews" Sam explained reluctantly. He knew his parents were anxious for him to find a job, especially because Lindsey, who hadn't gone to college, had already had a good job for three or four years.

"Oh" Judy said, disappointed. "That's good" Ron, on the other hand, simply said "That sucks" Sam tried to keep his temper and not feel inadequate. "You don't have to be so negative, Dad. You know, you're in DC. You're here with you son and your family. I mean, it's a good time"

"It sucks that you don't have a job" Ron pushed. "Yeah, but there's good things to do here, right? Right? Museums and monuments, okay? I'll see you tonight, Lindsey will want to have dinner" he already knew that, if Lindsey knew his parents were here, she would have taken the day off work to cook. She loved cooking, but had hardly had the time lately.

"Sam, I think for an interview you should wear real pants" his mom suggested while Sam went to where he stored the car he used when Bee wasn't around.

"I think for life, you should wear real pants" Sam snapped. "Oh, look! What happened to Bumblebee?" His mom asked as he walked to his car. "He's off on his missions. I had to get this for backup" Sam explained.

"Your car has a job, huh?" Ron asked snidely. 'What does it change into?" Judy asked, assuming it's another Autobot. "It doesn't change into anything. It's a collector's item, Ma" Sam told her, exasperated. "I got it for a steal. It just needs some work. Trust me"

"No, I think its darling" Judy assured him, "It reminds me a lot of Bumblebee, if Bumblebee were a sad piece of shit" Sam tried to start the car, but the engine wouldn't turn.

"Come on, we'll give you a ride" Judy called, jogging to their car, which was parked on a trailer being pulled by the RV.

* * *

><p>"Interviews. This is so exciting" Judy tried to easy the tense atmosphere. "Honey, do you want some gum? Your breath gets really gnarly when you're nervous" Ouch that's kinda mean. Sam sighed and tried to ignore his parents.<p>

Job interview number one: "Mr. Witwicky?"

"I'm Mr. Whitley" shake hands.

Next: "Is anybody else joining?"

"No"

"No? You want me to move right there?"

"I'd prefer not"

Next: "Ready, begin"

"Graduated this year. Majored in geopolitics. Minor in tech studies…"

And again: "Very interested in government and technology, how that's gonna intersect and co-exist."

Another: "Shape the future"

All epic fails.

"Why did we bother sending him to an Ivy college for?" Ron asked. Sam tried not to show his anger or hurt at his father's words. "Three months out of school and he can't find a job?"

Again: "Mr. Masuhisu…"

"Motsumoto"

And then: "Martha, can I call you Martha?"

"No, you may not"

Also: "Okay, Jack, there's two types of people in this world. There's thinkers, there's doers. There's winners, there's dreamers, and there's buddies"

"What about some weaknesses?"

Another: "I don't"

Again: "You have a very trustworthy face. You remind me of a, like an Asian Colonel Sanders. A man I can trust"

But in the car, all bets were off: "He's a millennial" his mom was saying, "that means they're the, you know, like lost generation"

Another interview: "Why were the FBI looking for you?"

"The what?"

And: "Yeah, the FBI. Good of you to flag that"

Again: "It was during all that alien craziness when you were 14"

More: "I mean, they were very kind to me, found me in a jiffy"

Poor Sam: "And that's all been expunged. Obama gave me a medal, actually"

Another: "I'm just saying. It's always good to have a medal guy in the office, with a medal"

"From Obama?"

"Yeah"

"In this office, we're mostly Republicans, so…"

Sam walked up the steps to his next job interview. "I'm not feeling too good" his dad complained, eating a hot dog with a basket of fries and a bottle of Pepto-Bismol. "Why don't you get a little dipping tray and dip the dog in Pepto?" Sam snapped. "That's a solution. I got another one, we gotta go!"


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N – october 25, 2012: doing lot's of editing. I put the date on here becasue I read a lot of FanFics that say they're editing, but it was a year or more ago that they did. It get's confusing.**

* * *

><p>"Sit" the office was almost completely white, but the only other real color was yellow. The boss was old, wrinkly, and slightly intimidating. "Got myself a Mr. Sam Witwicky, recent college graduate. Previous experience, next to zero, yet he has a recommend letter from our board? WTF to that"<p>

Sam got curious, "Do I know somebody on your board?" he didn't think he did.

"Here's the deal. You know who we are. Accuretta Systems, global leader in telecom, aerospace, 17 billion in profit last year. We contract for DARPA, NASA, JPL, you name it. You perform here. Doors open for you anywhere. First job out of college is critical, kid. You either take a step down the correct career path or you fall into a life-sucking abyss. So, it all depends on how you respond to my next to words:

"Impress me"

"Now?"

"Impress me"

"You catch me off guard. I don't know where to begin"

"Impress me"

"I'm an open book. Ask me any question you like" Sam tried. All the others had asked him plenty of questions, so he wasn't ready for this man to give him the floor.

"So you're a go-getter, ramrod, take-charge kinda guy" Sam though about the Battle of Egypt, as Lindsey called it. "Yes, sir. I'm a killer. A stone-cold killer"

"So, take-charge guy?"

"Take-charge, Viking, barbarian, of course, that's me. Pow, I'm here" Sam knew he was making a fool of himself, but he couldn't shut himself up. The man, Bruce Brazos, took a framed picture from behind him, and showed it to Sam.

"We are not looking for that here. No brown-nosing. No suck up. No toolery. I…" But Brazos looked behind Sam and was distracted. He pressed a button on his phone and was rewarded with a "_Yes, Mr. Brazos_"

"Um, why is Shontel using what appears to be a red cup from the red floor, when we are on the yellow floor?" Brazos asked. "_I'm on it_" Sam was unsure how to react; this guy was obsessive. "It is a visual and, therefore, a visceral betrayal. Stop it" a man walked down the aisle holding a trash bin and unceremoniously picked up said red cup, tossing it.

"Such a dumb-ass. Disgusting!" Brazos shouted. The woman promptly started crying.

"Thank you! It's total anarchy around here. The e-mail I read said administrative aide?" Sam clarified, turning away from the crying woman who was walking out of the office. "Nope. Mailroom"

"I'm gonna go"

Sam started walking away when Brazos started talking again. "Um, do you have any idea how many Ivy League Phi Beta Kappas would kill to…" Sam couldn't stand it. "Mister, I saved your life twice, okay? I can't tell you how or when or why, but I have done shit that matters and I'd just kind of like a job where I matter again. So thank you, but no, thank you, okay?"

"You know what I think? You want the job after this job. But, son, this is the job that's standing in your way" Brazos told him, not letting Sam leave. "And that's why you're gonna be so very, very good at it. 'Cause when I look at you, I see a younger me"

Sam reluctantly shook his hand.

* * *

><p>Sam drove his, admittedly crappy, car to where he knew Lindsey worked. It was startlingly white.<p>

He walked in and quickly found the reception desk, armed by two women in white. "Hi, I'm where to see Lindsey Steward."

Everywhere he looked, people where either in black, white, or both. It was all too clean looking, he was almost scared to walk and mar the perfect white. He walked into what looked like the main gallery to see people swarming Lindsey, every single person trying to get her attention. Sam watched as his girlfriend dealt with each person patiently, with a smile, until she saw him.

Lindsey promptly excused herself and went to Sam. It was odd, seeing as Lindsey wore the only color in the building. "You got the job?" She asked excitedly, noting his victorious look.

"This is crazy" Sam told her, looking around. "Don't avoid the question" she said firmly. He smiled indulgently and wrapped his arms around her waist. 'Yes, I got the job" he told her, pecking her lips before releasing her.

Sam looked around. "You said you were his assistant curator, you didn't say the guy owns Space Mountain" Lindsey laughed. "Isn't it beautiful? It took forever to get it running properly, but it was worth it. And he's really cool, I promise"

"Sam" both turned to see a guy really casual clothes walking over to them.

"Dylan Gould" he shook Sam's hand. "Hi. A pleasure to meet you" Sam tried not to make it sound forced. "Pleasure meeting you. Lindsey can't seem to stop talking about you" Lindsey blushed slightly.

"The same. It's a beautiful building you got. It's like the Starship _Enterprise_ in here" Dylan laughed. "Thanks so much. It leaks. Before Lindsey came to help run the collection four years ago, it was just a complete mess. But now, the restorations are back on track. We're going to Pebble Beach this year, and we're gonna get a trophy for that stand right there" Dylan pointed to a stand behind Sam.

"You know why? Because this woman right here is my secret weapon" Lindsey blushed even more, not used to being considered a woman yet. Until recently, she had always been called girl, if noticed at all.

"Mr. Gould, you're exaggerating. I've only gotten you organized, and it took four years too long" I told him. "You've done much more than that, my Duchess, and in much shorter a time than any other could have" Dylan replied.

"Nicknames, that's fun" Sam didn't like that Dylan was blatantly hitting on Lindsey, and Lindsey wasn't pushing him away. Rationally, he realized that Lindsey still had a low self-esteem and didn't realize that Dylan was flirting with her, but he wasn't thinking rationally.

"You know, I was lucky to get her when I did. The government wanted her as an ambassador. When I met her, I said 'it's easy to manage a country. Try managing a priceless collection of art.' Take a look at this 1939 Delahaye 165 Cabriolet"

They walked over and settled around the car. "Designed by Frenchman. Look at the curves. Elegant isn't it? Beautiful" Sam didn't miss that Dylan was looking at Lindsey when he was speaking. "Sensual. Built to evoke the body of the ideal woman. Come on"

The couple followed Lindsey's boss, Lindsey completely unaware of Sam's mounting jealousy.

"My dad had a $10 desk and a dream, and he built it into an empire. We're the largest accounting firm in the US. I started up the venture side after he passed. Invest in the future. Try and bet on the winners. See, collecting cars helps me keep my sanity"

Sam was almost foaming at the mouth as he and Lindsey walked out to go home. Sam looked back and saw Dylan behind them. "Here we go. Here we go. You see that? Judgment. Judging a man by his car? And you're gonna wave at him while he's judging me?"

"Sam, what's wrong? He's my boss! This job pays for food, our rent" Lindsey couldn't understand why Sam was acting the way he was. "No, I understand. I'm totally fine. I get it. I'm well fed. And guess what? I'm not your boy toy anymore. I got my big boy pants on. You see them?"

Lindsey giggled, and Sam smiled slightly at seeing her smile. She had him wrapped around her finger. "In the car, thank you Duchess" It hit Lindsey. "Are you jealous? Why?" Sam forced out laughter as he climbed into the car.

"Jealous? What is there to be jealous of? His money? His power His good looks? None of the above, check!" Lindsey sighed and climbed into the car. "Sam, look at me". He wouldn't. "Sam" he finally turned and looked her in the eye.

"Six years. We have been together six years, all of which no other guy has ever even glances at me" Sam knew that wasn't true, but said nothing, "I love you. I have almost dies for you repeatedly. I fought for you and supported you. I got into the car with you" Sam smiled at the reference to the historical event that pretty much started everything.

Sam sighed and nodded, trying to get the car to start, but it wouldn't. "Sam, let me look at it" Lindsey said, but Sam shook his head. "No! I got it"

He got out of the car and popped the hood, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Car not working?" Sam looked over his shoulder to see Dylan. "No" he sighed. "I'm about 32% done with my restoration. Some chrome work, put a spoiler on the back, but…" Sam trailed off. His talk with Lindsey had calmed him slightly though he was still insanely jealous of Dylan.

"You know, Lindsey has told me, though it was subtle, that you've been struggling job-wise. Just so you know, I'm on the board for Accuretta Systems, and I put in a call for you. Let's keep it between us, okay? She's so proud of you. I haven't seen her so happy in a while. You're a lucky man"

Dylan patted him on the shoulder and walked away. Sam wasn't sure to be insulted or not.

* * *

><p>Sam walked into Accuretta on his first day, feeling slightly depressed. "What is this hoochie-mama outfit?" one of his bosses was saying meanly to another worker dressed entirely in white. He thought it was kinda funny that they used white exercise balls instead of chairs.<p>

The girl replied in Spanish, and the guy snapped "No, this is the aerospace division! We do not allow that here!" She said some more stuff in Spanish before walking away.

The guy turned on Sam. "New guy! You see that? That's a Latin meltdown, okay? You ever show up in my office with a hoochie-mama outfit, you're fired. You got that?" Sam nodded, still loading his mail cart. "Okay, you're gonna be on this cart for two-and-a-half years, okay? I want you to live it, love it name it. There's no ladder climbing in my office. I run a tight ship. Okay?"

"Yes sir"

"Move!"

Sam went through the halls as fast as he could, delivering mail. He was sitting at his desk looking through papers, when he felt a feminine figure hug him from behind. He smelled the natural perfume that was distinctly Lindsey.

"Hey!"

"Oh. Hi, angel" he kissed her arm. "You know, I am so glad you don't call me Goddess or Mistress like Wheelie does. How are you?" Lindsey asked.

"I'm good" Sam could feel some of his office mates staring at Lindsey, but said nothing. She was his and nothing would change that. "I had a meeting downtown. Was it okay for me to stop by? I don't want to get you into trouble on your first day" she worried.

"Yeah, you'd wait for the second" Sam joked. "I'm not sure. My 500-page employee conduct manual isn't exactly a page turner" he told her seriously.

"This isn't so bad" Lindsey tried to sooth him as she sat on his desk. Sam noticed she was wearing a red, practically skin-tight, mid-thigh length dress that had a halter-style top and red heels. "Yeah, Autobots are off saving the world, and I have organized four binders. I'm living a dream"

"You could be flipping burgers" Lindsey reminded him. "Come on" Sam told her. They both stood and walked away, Lindsey making sure to grab her present for Sam on the way. "Visitor violation" one of his officemates sang snidely.

"Listen, Saturday, Dylan's throwing a party at his house. It's a work thing, but he's invited you too" Lindsey told him. "Did he?" Sam asked absentmindedly. "I really want to go. Please?" she begged, pouting her lips.

Sam sighed. "I'd love to go. How'd you get over here" he had been driving her everywhere recently.

"Car" Lindsey tried to side-step his question.

"You don't have a car" Sam told her, not entirely worried. "I do now" Sam looked at her. "Did you win it in a raffle or something?" Lindsey bit her lip. "Dylan gave it to me" she said hesitantly. "He gave you a car?"

"I think it's instead of a bonus" Lindsey told him. "Hmm" Sam sat down at the computer. "What kind of car did he give you?" She hesitated "A Mercedes SLS AMG" Lindsey told him quietly. Sam typed it into the search. "_Mercedes Benz SLS combines breathtaking performance…_"

"You drove this here? It's a $200,000 car. You know how long it would take me to afford a car like this? About 53 years" Sam told her.

"Sam. He said it was for both of us" Lindsey told him. "Then we should sell it and buy a house" Sam told her gently, getting up and wrapping his arms around her waist as she leaned against the table.

Sam started walking back to his desk when he head Brazos "I need some lunch time filing done, stat" he rushed them back to his desk. "Who would like to score some Bruce Brazos points?" Sam was bent down doing paper-work while Lindsey stood behind him, giving Bruce the same look she gives Will when she knows he's going to be pissed and she wanted her way.

"Bruce, you found your guy" the same guy that had commented on Lindsey's presence told Brazos. Bruce ignored him.

"Witwicky!" Sam looked up. "The man who makes this company run. Now, who have we here? Is it a sister, Facebook friend, Twitter tweeter?" Sam looked at Lindsey. "Linds, this is Bruce Brazos, my boss. Mr. Brazos, Lindsey"

Lindsey held out her hand. "Hello" she said sweetly. "I'm his girlfriend. You know, Sam was right. You really do have a wonderful head of hair" Lindsey bluffed. "Thank you" Brazos smiled.

"Sam, I need to go" she said, leaning down to grab his other present. Sam noticed Brazos leaning down to look at her butt. "Here, your present" it was a red cup filled with red licorice. Sam had told her about Brazos's obsession with color order.

"My favorite color" she stole one of the licorice. "It was wonderful to meet you, Mr. Brazos" she said, biting into the licorice.

"And you" She walked away, and every one of Sam's bosses and officemates stared at her as she left. "See ya, boys. I'll see you tonight Sam" she called before she disappeared.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N – Wang is so weird. The bathroom scene…I just couldn't type it. I'll start Sam's part after Wang is 'suicide'ed. Until then, can you figure out what Lindsey is freaking out about? **

* * *

><p>Lindsey was nervous. She didn't know what to tell Sam. She knew she couldn't hide it for long. She didn't want to hide it. But she felt like something was going to happen, soon. Maybe now wasn't the right time. Was it ever going to be the right time? And what if something happened, and she never told him? She couldn't handle it.<p>

She knew what she was going to do. She was going to tell him. On Saturday.

* * *

><p><em>With Sam<em>.

"Come on, people. Yes, a workmate died, but looking out the window is not going to bring him back. The man was depressed. You can keep watching him, but he's not getting up. You all read 'Humpty Dumpty' okay? Witwicky?" Sam really didn't want to face Brazos after the bathroom incident, and he needed to figure out what Wang was trying to tell him.

"I'm spearheading the press. You clean up. Wang is everywhere. He is in the bistro. He's in the bamboo. He's on the balustrade. Box up his personals. Get his name off his parking space. Listen, I'm not gonna say anything about what I saw. Who you share a toilet stall with is totally your business"

Suddenly, one of the workmates was thrown into the wall, and the copier turned into a raptor-like Decepticon.

The Decepticon shot everything in its way – which was pretty much everything in the building – to get to Sam. Sam started running, trying to get away from the Decepticon. Everyone was screaming and being thrown about. Sam finally ditched the Decepticon and promptly went home.

* * *

><p>"Sam, what's wrong?" Lindsey asked again. Sam had grabbed her and thrown them both into his car, heading straight for where he knew the Autobot base was.<p>

"Decepticon at work. I'll explain later" Sam pulled into the gates at the base.

"We've got an emergency. You gotta get Colonel Lennox out here" Sam told the guard. "I'm reporting a Decepticon. The Decepticons are back. You gotta open that gate now"

"Easy, sir. This is Health and Human Services" the guard lied to Sam. "Right. Packing M4s? What are you protecting, colostomy bags? Bedpans? Throat lozenges?" Sam snapped. One of the guards banged on the car. "are you being a smart-ass?" Sam snapped, "Do not touch the car, it is a collector's item!"

Lindsey sighed and pulled out her phone, hitting speed dial.

"Ma'am, what are you doing?" one of the guards asked, exasperated, as if he thought she was doing something only she thought was smart.

"Calling Will. Yeah, hi, Will. Sam was attacked at work. Decepticons. He won't tell me anything else, he needs to talk to you guys. Your idiot guards won't let us in. Didn't you ever tell them about Sam and me? You do realize they can track us now, right?"

Will said something over the phone, and Lindsey smiled. She held out her phone for the guard. "He wants to talk to you" the guard hesitantly took the phone. 'Hello?" he asked warily.

Instantly, you could hear yelling. Will was pissed and worried.

The guard swallowed and nodded. He handed the phone back to Lindsey, who smiled wetly. "Thanks Will. Next time you talk to Sarah, tell her I need to talk with her. Bye!" she said before hanging up.

They started going through when one of the guards started screaming, "Energon reading!" Sam stopped the car and Lindsey sighed before dialing her phone again. As the cylinders popped us, wrecking Sam's car, Lindsey said "We brought Wheelie and Brains. Get Bee down here before these idiots, who are going to be fired, shoot him"

Sam was pulled out of the car and thrown against the ground. Another guard grabbed Lindsey and roughly pinned her to the ground, bruising her arms and legs and gashing her arm as she cried out in pain. Another couple guards pulled out Wheelie and Brains.

"How's your car now?" a guard asked cockily.

Just them Bee sped up, transforming over the barrier and pointing his canon at the guard. "That's my car"

When Lindsey tried to stand up, she cried out in pain, clutching her stomach. "Linds!" Sam and all of the present Autobots rushed to her. "I'm…I'm okay…I think" she panted, tears in her eyes. Wheelie and Brains growled at the guards. "Stay away from Mistress!" they cried.

The guards were a little shocked to hear that. They had heard several Autobots talking about the elusive 'Mistress' often, but it was difficult to believe that the tiny girl in front of them was she.

Lindsey stood up. "I think I'll be fine. Just…hold onto me, okay?" she told Sam. He nodded, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulled her arm over his shoulders to give her support. "_Let's go_" Bee said. Sam pulled Lindsey with him through the gate.

* * *

><p>"Raise your hand if you had a flying psycho-ninja copier trying to kill you today!" Sam cried, walking through the hallway to the metal-detectors that were set up. They searched Sam and tried to force Lindsey to stand up and be searched, but she couldn't stand on her own. Lindsey was almost crying from pain and Sam was yelling at them when Lennox showed up.<p>

"Hey!" they all turned to him, and Lindsey flung herself at the guy. Will hugged Lindsey close, stroking her hair and trying to calm her down. "are you okay?" he asked her. Lindsey nodded, but Sam spoke up "She had bruises along both arms and legs and a long gash along one arm from one of the guards after you had already given us clearance"

Will growled; he and Sarah thought of Lindsey as their own daughter, an older sister for Annabelle. "Tell those guards at the front gate I'd like to speak with them later" Will growled. He led Sam and Lindsey through the base.

"This Wang guy recognized me. He told me to warn you" Sam was explaining to Will. "that short Japanese guy? I thought he was looking at me weird" Lindsey interrupted. Both guys ignored her comment.

"He was talking about the dark side of the moon, then they killed him" Sam continued. "Wait a minute. He mentioned the moon?" Will asked. Sam and Lindsey didn't understand, but Lennox saw the connection between the information the NEST team had just uncovered, and what Sam had been told. "Yeah, dark side of the moon"

"But why would Decepticons want to kill specific humans? I mean, in mass for no reason I get, but some of these deaths are covered up and they're targeting specific people" Lindsey mused. She had a point. Will sat them down so someone could fix up her arm.

"Excuse me? Colonel Lennox?" they all turned to look at a fairly old, sever-looking woman. "Director Mearing, this is Sam Witwicky and Lindsey Steward…" Lennox started to introduce, but Mearing snapped, "I know their names, Colonel. I wanna know who gave them clearance"

"Who gave us clearance? How about Optimus Prime, when he touched down in suburbia looking for my house?" Sam used that name so often, he forgot that it only held power with the Cybertronians anymore. It didn't scare people like it did Sector Seven six years ago.

"This is the National Intelligence Director" Lennox reminded him, "In case you" _wanna watch your words_.

"I apologize, Sir" Mearing looked slightly less ruffled at not being called ma'am. "We would not have come unless it was an emergency, and no one was picking up the phone. We understand that everything here is top-secret and we no longer have clearance, but Sam was attacked by a Decepticon…again…at work earlier today" Lindsey explained.

Mearing looked surprised. "Okay, listen" she turned to Will. "One of the software engineers at Sam's office was murdered today. He was involved in NASA's lunar mapping probe"

"Here's the thing, Colonel Lennox. We cannot entrust national security to teenagers unless I missed a policy paper. Are we doing that now? No? Good" Lindsey growled softly. This woman would put everyone at risk if she didn't get over herself and listen!

Lindsey rolled her eyes at the woman as Sam and she moved to a staircase. An offline Autobot, who they learned was Sentinel Prime, was on a table while Optimus approached, taking the Matrix of Leadership out of his spark chamber. "Wow" She hadn't seen that thing in years, and didn't remember what it looked like.

"Sentinel Prime, we bid you return" with that, Optimus shoved the Matrix into Sentinel's spark. Suddenly, the bot was alive and active, and attacking Optimus. "It is I, Optimus Prime!" Sentinel stopped fighting as Sam and Lindsey stopped running closer. They had the automatic instinct to help him. "It is alright. You are safe"

"There's nothing to fear" the Autobots surrounded them, and it was a spectacular sight to see. "We are here. You are home, Sentinel"

"The war…the war!" Sentinel cried. "The war was lost. Cybertron is now but a barren wasteland" Optimus told him, grabbing the Matrix and getting up. "We have taken refuge here, on planet Earth. Its human race is our ally"

"My ship. We came under fire" Sentinel was still processing everything, Lindsey guessed. "The pillars. Where are the pillars?"

"You saved five of them, including the control pillar" Optimus told him. "Only five? We once had hundreds!" Sentinel cried, furious. Mearing, being her usual, control-freak self, had to interrupt. "Excuse me, gentlemen. May I ask, what is this technology you're looking for?"

"It is the ability to reshape the universe. Together, the pillars from a space bridge. I designed, and I alone, can control it. It defies your laws of physics to transport matter through time and space" Sentinel explained.

"You're talking about a teleportation devise, aren't you?" Mearing asked. "Yes, for resources, for refugees" Sentinel clarified. "Refugees, or troops of soldiers, weapons, maybe bombs!" Mearing accused. "A means of an instant strike! That's its military function, isn't it?" _Oh my gosh, not everything is designed with destruction in mind_, Lindsey thought.

"It is our technology and it must be returned" Sentinel evaded her question. "Yes. If humans say so" Mearing was over-confident and over-bearing. Humans should have no say in this. It's practically stealing. "You can't just bring weapons of mass destruction into our atmosphere"_ you gave them permission, _"You kinda have to clear customs first!" _okay that was funny, and awesome_. "A little formality called paperwork, kind of separates us from the animals"

"I will overlook your condescending tone if you heed the gravity of mine. The Decepticons must never know the space bridge is here. For in their hands, it would mean the end of your world"


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N – I'm not sure if I like Mearing or not. Still debating.**

* * *

><p><strong>Lindsey's POV<strong>

Mearing held up a sticky note and a file, telling her secretary, "'Total Nightmare' file" as we walked in. She looked tired and flustered, and a bit of a mess, like she had been working non-stop for a long time. She probably had. I felt slightly sorry for her.

"So, the investigation is open. We've sent agents to your office. And, for the time being, we're gonna send you home with Autobot protection" despite her original attitude towards us, and my dislike for her, I could understand why Mearing was treating us this way, and appreciated her taking us at least partially seriously.

"Who do I need to speak to, to get you guys to understand that I can help, that I can contribute?" Sam said snarkily. I rested a warning hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged me off.

"Hey, we can all help. Want to tell you what I know?" Brains offered. He and Wheelie were playing around Mearing's office. "Boys, behave!" I snapped. The both nodded. "Yes Mistress" They both muttered. Mearing shot me a look. "You can't train them to call you Mistress, they're a sentient alien race under government protection" she snapped. "I didn't. They've been calling me that for years. We tried to figure out why, but even they don't know" I told her calmly, trying to keep my temper.

"Can we get back to the topic at hand? What do you envision for me? I go home now? I go back to work? I make copies? I mean…" Sam asked furiously.

"This is a unit for veteran intelligence officers and Special Forces, not for boys who once own special cars" she said condescendingly.

"Sir, that's unnecessary. We simply want to offer our help, as it has always been needed before when the world was in danger. After all, it was we who found the Autobot, killed Megatron the first time, destroyed the Alspark, resurrected Optimus Prime, found the Matrix of Leadership, and saved countless lives when no one else could even turn their heads" I replied.

Sam coughed, looking at Mearing's medal. "So, are those yours?" he asked, pointing. "Yeah. CIA" She told him. "I only ask 'cause I also have a medal, from the President" Sam tried.

"Yeah. Great. So, it's not that complicated, right?" she shot. Ouch, that was mean. "No one gets to work with the Autobots unless I approve it. You're breaking my chain of command" Mearing explained.

"Come on, Sam. It will all work out, just like last time" I told him, standing up and pulling him along with me.

"With all due respect, young man, I appreciate what you did" Mearing offered. "But you're not a soldier. You're a messenger. You've always been a messenger" I frowned.

"He's much more than that. It's because of him, and only him, that this planet is still turning. I would love to say it's a pleasure to meet you, but until you can wrap your mind around the fact that there are more important people than yourself, that would be a lie"

With that, we walked away.

* * *

><p>Bumblebee came home with us, and Sam refused to let me walk by myself, even though he was still steaming about Mearing's dismissal.<p>

"Bee, you take the freight elevator. We'll see you up there" Sam ordered. We slowly made our way up the stairs, and Sam helped me get to bed. He set me down and I snuggled into the comfy blankets. Sam chuckled slightly and kissed my forehead. "Get some rest" he requested quietly. I nodded tiredly and quickly fell asleep.

**3****rd**** POV**

"Bee!" Sam hissed quietly, trying not to wake Lindsey. She needed to rest. Bee was in his bipedal mode, looking at his cannons and trying to ignore Wheelie and Brain talking.

"You miss hanging out?" Sam asked sadly. Bee made a sad sound. "Yeah, me too" Sam went to the fridge and pulled out some milk. He couldn't sleep. Mearing's words, what Wang had told him, and everything that had happened today was spinning through his mind.

"That woman, she called me a messenger" Sam told Bee. "Can you believe that? After everything I've done, I'm a messenger"

"I believe it. I tell you Sammy, we feel the same way. We the special bots, getting to be with you and Mistress, but we still looked down on" Wheelie said, climbing into the room. "The disrespect on this rock is criminal"

"We should do something about it" Sam mused. "Bee, I need to know why they're killing humans. I say we call in the expert" he knew if Lindsey was here, she would have been dialing the phone already.

* * *

><p>"<em>My next guess is a former American intelligence operative who had dared to speak out regarding our alleged military alliance with what many describe as a group of extraterrestrial mercenaries<em>" the O'Reilley Factor was playing on TV.

"_He is the author of the bestselling book, _Code-Name Hero_. Former Special Agent Seymour Simmons_" Simmons was sitting in a leather chair in his mansion, smirking. "Bill. Big fan. Great to be here" He said. If Lindsey could see him, she would have laughed. He had died his hair black and was wearing ridiculous 'rich-person' clothes, as she would have said.

"_Now, agent Simmons, you would have us believe that it is in our best interest to formally take sides in this so-called alien civil war?_" O'Reilley asked. "Well, the other side wanted to spank us for breakfast, so I wouldn't exactly call it a toss-up. These Decepticons are lethal" Simmons explained, in his own words.

"_But polls show half the world would feel safer with the Autobots completely gone_" O'Reilley told him. "_Get them out of here! We don't need them here!_" Simmons shook his head. "I feel safer when I sleep with a hand grenade, doesn't mean I'm always right" he argued.

"_Now, agent, here at _The Factor_ we have obtained documents that show you were fired by the intelligence agency_" O'Reilley said. "Downsized, Bill!" Simmons snapped. "Budget cuts"

"_Your psych evaluation report 'sever delusional tendencies'_" Simmons was getting mad. "this is ambush journalism. You want the truth about the alien alliance? Buy my book! Buy my book, before it's too late people!" and he didn't mean when it was out of print.

Lindsey and Sam shared a look. "Simmons has gone off the deep end, hasn't he?' she asked softly. Sam nodded mutely. Lindsey picked up her phone and started dialing.

_With Simmons_

"What's up next? What have we got" Simmons asked, trying to calm down while we walked away from the O'Reilley Factor people. "Book signing, Midtown, noon. Then we pitch your reality show to the Discovery Channel. Oh, and I have this Steward that keeps calling me. Steward and Witwicky, five times today" Dutch offered in his odd accent.

"Lindsey? What's she want?" Simmons almost shouted, holding out his hand for a phone. "Simmons, thank God. Sam needs to talk to you" Lindsey handed the phone to Sam. "I called you because the Decepticons are back. I wanna know why, and I need your help" Sam quickly explained.

"They're back?" Simmons asked in wonder. "Well, that's good for business" Simmons tried to keep himself from getting excited. Lindsey grabbed the phone from Sam and told Simmons, "What if I told you we know a 50-year-old alien secret that nobody ever told you?" Lindsey asked.

"Do not tempt my addiction. I have gone through withdrawal, kid" Simmons said, fighting said 'addiction'.

"Dutch, is this line secure?" Simmons asked him person man-servant. "No" Dutch quickly set up…something…that would scramble the signal and make the line secure. "Don't take the risk" Simmons told himself. "I'm rich, why should I? Do not relapse, I won't. Do not let the demons win"

"Got it"

Simmons grabbed the Bluetooth. "What kind of secret?"

"Apollo. Moon. Aliens. Cover-up. Future tech. Assassinations. That kind of stuff" Sam said nonchalantly. "Oh, Apollo" Simmons whispered.

"Dutch!" Simmons got geared up and dressed in leather quickly. Dutch drove him to Sam's address. When the elevator opened, Simmons simply said, "Tell Megatron, 'Let's tango'"

Lindsey giggled, ruining the effect.

Simmons smiled. "How you doing, Linds?" he asked, pulling the odd girl into a hug. "I'm alright. After all this is over again, you should come have dinner with us" Lindsey told him happily.

Simmons nodded at Sam, who reciprocated, and they got to work. "You've got to break this case down" Simmons said. "Well, what we have here is an astronaut epidemic. 'MIA, dead, dies in car accident, killed, DOA, car death'. It's like these guys can't drive. They can fly into outer space, but they can't drive a car" they were looking at pictures, maps, websites, and captions that decorated the entire space.

There was a knock at the door. Without unlocking the chain, Sam opened it. Bruce Brazos appeared, looking slightly beaten. "Procured your information, Witwicky" he said, pressing himself as far into the room as he could. "Thank you, Bruce"

Sam tried to shut the door, but Bruce shoved a yellow shoe in between the door and the frame. "Now, let me see one right now. One time" Brazos insisted.

Sam deliberated. "Quick"

"Very"

Sam shut the door, unlocked the chain, and let Brazos in. Lindsey internally groaned. She didn't really like Brazos, or the way he looked at her. So she ignored him. Both Simmons and Dutch looked Brazos up and down like he was dirt.

"Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter" Sam read. "It says NASA launched it in 2009. See, forensics show Wang may have messed with the code, preventing it from mapping that far side of the moon, which is also the dark side" Brazos was staring at Bee, who clearly didn't like the smaller man.

"They infiltrate us, intimidate us, coerce us to do their dirty work, and once their done, kadoech! A double-tap to the cerebellum" Simmons said, almost emotionlessly. "So humans are working for the Decepticon" Sam figured. Simmons shook his head, looking at the data.

"I don't think this is about the Decepticons looking for something on the moon" Simmons told them. "I think it's about something they wanted to hide" Brazos was trying to get Bee to play with him…Lindsey thought, anyway. He pissed of Bee enough for Bee to knock him over, pulled down his face plate, and point a canon at Brazos, who in turn started…laughing?

Simmons sighed and turned on Brazos. "Sir! We are having a pretty high-level alien intell confab here that I don't think you're cleared for, errand boy" Ohh! Yes! Lindsey internally cheered. After seeing Sam treated like an errand boy by this guy, she was happy to see Brazos get a piece of his own crap.

"Yeah, you're right" Brazos said, getting up. "I think it's time to go, Bruce" Sam said, trying to push him out. "Thank you so much for this, and…" But Sam didn't let him finish. Finally, Brazos was out the door.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N – I feel so bad for Dutch here. He's like a little puppy that can kill you in a second. He's so cute! Maybe I'll write a mini-story for him. I just want to give him a big hug when Simmons is mean to him!**

* * *

><p>Brains, who had transformed into a laptop to help, transformed back to inform everyone "I'm smoking over here. Downloading missing Russian cosmonauts. Turns out the Soviets concealed a manned mission to the moon. The moon, in 1972" Brains hook up to the printer to print all this out for them. Lindsey felt bad for him when he really started smoking. "And two of their cosmonauts went into hiding in America. And I just found them alive"<p>

"You're a genius, brains" Lindsey cried, picking him up and kissing him on the head. Then, she looked at the clock. "Crap! Sam, we need to leave!" Lindsey cried, running upstairs to change into the dress she had set out.

"What? Why?" Sam called, running after her. "Dylan's party, remember!" She cried, stripping down to her underwear.

"I do remember, but…" Sam trailed off as Lindsey pulled on a tight, diagonally-hemmed, sparkly, aqua colored dress with one long sleeve, leaving my other shoulder bare. She wouldn't be able to wear dressed like these for much longer, so she was dressing up as much as possible.

"Sam, please. I know this is important, but can't we do something or me, if only for a couple hours!" Lindsey cried, pulling on her silver heels. He shook his head. "Linds, this is important!" he cried. Lindsey glared at him before storming down the stairs. "This is important to me!" she screamed before leaving.

Sam followed her out of the building. "Lindsey, please!" he cried. Lindsey stopped and turned on him. "Why! Why can't we do something for me? For once, I want to do something that doesn't revolve around you! This job, people come to _me_! For help! They seek _me_ out. I'm not some tag-along! With this job, I'm important, not someone that just happened to be there.

"Sam, everything in my life I've done for you! It's always been about you! For over 20 years I've been your best friend. I turned my back on my family, the possibility of other friends, of doing anything for myself, all for you! And now, when I want to do something for me, you can't take the time!" she cried.

"I just want to matter!" Sam cried. Lindsey froze. Just then, two Autobots drove up. Lindsey shook her head. "Haven't you been listening, Sam? You're the only thing that matters to me" she whispered, trying not to cry.

Sam looked at her, pleading, but she knew what he would say. "It was never a contest, Sam. If the choice was between the world and you, I would always pick you. I'm just sorry you don't feel the same" with that, Lindsey climbed into the Mercedes and slammed the door. The couple, or former-couple, didn't notice that Simmons and Dutch had followed them outside, or that they had an Autobot/human audience.

Lindsey slammed on the gas and peeled away, trying to quiet her sobbing. Sam stood there, long after she was gone, trying not to break down. What she had said hurt. Was a really choosing everything else before her, like she said? Lindsey had never even hinted at feeling like she was the only one giving in their relationship. But maybe she had, and he just didn't pay attention.

The guilt was eating at him. Simmons came up behind him and put a rough hand on Sam's shoulder. "If there's one thing I know for certain, it's that you two are one of those fated couples. Nothing can separate you for long. Lindsey is a special girl, and we all know you'd be an idiot to throw that away." Simmons paused for a moment. "How did she afford that car?"

"Her boss"

"Rich bastards. I used to hate them. Now, it's…" Simmons trailed off.

* * *

><p>They sped down the road in Simmons' personal car, driven by Dutch, while the Autobots drove around them. "Going to a gig on the hunt for two Russian cosmonauts. Nothing like driving in Maybach, huh? Germans know how to make cars, let me tell you" Simmons said.<p>

They stopped and set up all their equipment to spy. "My Dutchman, former NSA cyberslueth extraordinaire, tracked them down here" Simmons explained as Dutch pulled up to a building. "So, these cosmonauts went into hiding. Why?"

"Bingo. I got a match" Dutch said, pointing at some people walking into the gated building. "You're a German shepherd, Dutch" Simmons said. Sam looking at him in confusion. His statement made no sense.

"They thing about Russians is, they never like to talk" Simmons explained, picking out a gun. "It's gonna take a little more of the 'international language'"

They walked in, down a hall, to a door with a sliding slot in it for someone inside to see whoever was outside without opening the door. Simmons knocked. The slot opened and Simmons said something in Russian. "That means 'good-bye'" they guy at the slot said before sliding it closed.

Simmons knocked again. When the slot opened, Simmons handed him some money. The guy opened the door. It was like fancy bar with several scantily-clad women and rounded men. All three male's found themselves thinking Lindsey had more class, even wearing the same kind of clothes as these girls.

"Dutch, give me something tough" Simmons requested. Dutch pulled out a small Russian-to-English dictionary and fingered through it before suggesting "Baryshnikov"

"We do speak English" one of the two guys at the table they had approached glared. "Dutch, you suck" Simmons snapped. "It's a Cyrillic alphabet!" Dutch protested. "It's like all the buttons you never push on a calculator! I don't suck" he said the last part quietly.

Simmons kneeled in front of the Russians. "Agent Seymour Simmons, Sector Eight, formerly Seven" Simmons introduced. "We know who you are, cosmonautchiks"

"So what?" the other, bald, man asked. "You were supposed to travel to the dark side if the moon, then it all got shut down. The question is, why?' Simmons asked, taking a glass. He helped himself to some liquor while the woman said something in Russian.

"'can my child smoke in here?'" Dutch read from his dictionary. The female bartender started yelling something back when both women pulled out guns, one pointed at Simmons, the other pointed at Dutch. Sam was shoved back by another man, a pistol in his face.

Simmons stood, the woman holding the gun pressed to his nose. "Go ahead, shoot me" he said quietly. "I'm willing to die for my country. Are you?" Simmons replied after she said something in Russian.

She kept talking. Suddenly, Dutch swung and grabbed the barrel of the shot gun the bartender was holding. A shot went off, but it hit behind the woman. Dutch disarmed her and pointed the gun at one of the men. "Dutch, back in the cage" Simmons snapped when it was quiet again.

Dutch shouted, swinging the shotgun around while still pointing a pistol at the guy. Sam wondered where in the world Dutch had gotten that pistol. "Dutch! Hold, Dutch, hold!" Simmons commanded. "Dutch, stop!" Simmons continued in Dutch.

Dutch dropped the guns. "I'm so sorry. That is the old me" Dutch quaked. If it wasn't such a crazy situation, it would have been funny.

"Okay, let's everybody just calm down! Let's lower the heat, lower the guns. Let's relax. World War II is over" Simmons said, trying to be soothing.

The Russian Cosmonauts shared a resigned look.

* * *

><p>"You are about to see one of the biggest Soviet secrets. America first to send man to the moon" they told the group as they were led to something similar to Simmons meat locker, but much colder. There was frost everywhere. "But USSR first to send camera. In 1959, our Luna 3 take picture of the dark, the shadow side. Sees nothing. But in 1963, Luna 4 sees…"<p>

"Strange rocks. Around the ship. Hundreds of them. Yeah, show picture" they handed Sam a picture of what they were talking about, because what they were saying made him wonder what the big deal was. "With some drag marks" the Russians added. "I've seen these. These aren't rocks, these are pillars. Alien pillars for a space bridge"

"Like Jetfire?" Simmons asked, remembering the unpleasant experience. Sam nodded. The Russians looked mystified. "We know about them because the Autobots have five of these"

"The Decepticons must have raided the ship before Apollo 11 ever got there, took the pillars, and his them" Simmons mused. "It doesn't make sense" Sam thought out loud. "The Decepticons have the ship. They have all those pillars. Why would they leave Sentinel when he's the only one who can use them?" Sam asked the Russians, like they had a clue.

"Unless…" Simmons thought. "He's the one thing they still need" It figures.

Sam, Simmons, and Dutch left quickly. "We've got to meet up with Sentinel, rendezvous with him and keep him safe" Sam said, leading the group.

* * *

><p>Sam called Mearing. "Mearing, I just picked up Sentinel. Optimus is 10 minutes behind" he said into the phone. "We're coming to NEST now"<p>

"Mr. Witwicky, I thought I made it clear to you that I did not want you calling this phone" Mearing replied.

"Listen, the whole thing has been a setup since the beginning! The Decepticons wanted Optimus to find Sentinel because only Optimus could revive him" Sam explained. "But we have the space bridge" Mearing insisted. "Mearing, you have five pillars. I just learned the they have hundreds. You're doing exactly what they wanted you to do. What do you needs me to say to you? The Decepticons are coming for Sentinel Prime!"

Mearing hung up and went into action.

* * *

><p>They were being chased by three black Suburbans when suddenly, one transformed into a Decepticon. It grabbed Simmons and threw him, knocking down a freeway sign. It formed a ramp for the other two to fly into the air and transform as well.<p>

"Bee, you got to get Sentinel out of here! You got to guard him!" Sam cried from the passenger seat.

Bee pulled out his guns without transforming, which Sam didn't know he could do, and started shooting at the Decepticons, slowing, if not stopping, their progress. Dino transformed and used two cabled to latch onto one of the Decepticon dogs. "Shoot him! Shoot him, Bee!" Sam cried.

That was one Decepticon down, two to go.

The Decepticons were throwing the cars of innocent people around, trying to slow the Autobots. "Bee, you've got to move faster! Faster, Bee, go!" Sam called, looking out the back window. Suddenly, Bee was thrust in the air. Sam went flying with Bee transformed. But Bee grabbed him and transformed back before something happened. "Alright, back to NEST!"

They were almost there when Ironhide drove past, crashing into the two Decepticons.

Ironhide and Sideswipe both had one gun pointed at each Decepticon, who were both in similar positions, so they formed a large square. "A little Mexican standoff we got here" Sideswipe joked. "Weapons down" Ironhide ordered.

"And we'll let you escape with your dignity" Sideswipe added. The Decepticons deliberated before all four dropped their weapons. Then, the lying Deceptions pulled more from their back. Sideswipe and Ironhide both took one, and quickly both Decepticons were dead.

"Lennox!" Sam ran over to his friend while everyone as running. "We got Decepticons everywhere" Sam told him needlessly. "I've got my whole team deployed looking for them. Ironhide! Protect Sentinel! Get him locked up inside" Will ordered before looking back at Sam.

"Where's Lindsey?" he asked. Sam looked nervous. "She left earlier. Her boss is having a dinner party, and she really wanted to go. Said something about finally doing something for herself" Sam muttered. Will was furious. He understood Lindsey' choice, though. He let out a harsh breath. "Find her, soon" was all he said.

"You've got to guard Sentinel, because he's the key to this whole thing" Sam told Lennox. "Indeed I am" Sentinel said, transforming. "What you must realize, my Autobot brothers, is we were never going to win the war" everyone looked at him in shock. "For the sake of our planet's survival, a deal had to me made with Megatron"

Sentinel turned and shot at Ironhide, who dodged quickly. "Get back!" Will cried. They were flung back as Sentinel started shooting at everyone. Will knew Sam was important, so he rushed him to whatever safety he could.

"Rally all NEST forces back to the base" Will ordered. The soldier nodded, following orders. Will dragged Sam along as the fled.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N – Yes, I didn't kill Ironhide. I didn't have the heart. He's been there since the beginning! OK, I'm losing steam, so after I finish T3 it's going to be a long time before I update, since I'm planning a ton of _original_ stull, which i'm not sued to. So, we'll see.**

* * *

><p>"Get a medic in here!" Will cried when they reached, somewhat, safety. "We don't have enough men! Do not engage Sentinel!" he ordered, running with Sam and another soldier.<p>

Will caught up to Mearing, who was dazed after watching Sentinel's destruction of the base. "Director Mearing, come on!" he grabbed her. "We can't fight him. Let's go. We have to go" Sentinel was destroying everything, before grabbing the pillars and leaving.

Optimus drove in just as Sentinel left. People were running around, trying to save the injured, and moving away the dead. Optimus looked like if he could cry, he would have. He looked like he wanted to beat himself to a pulp.

"Yeah, take a look, Optimus! This is all on you!" Mearing snapped. Sam glared at her. Did she really need to say that? Couldn't she see Optimus was already beating himself up enough? If Lindsey was here, she would have slapped Mearing and left to comfort Optimus.

If Lindsey were here…but she wasn't, Sam reminded himself.

Sam ran. He ran all the way to their building, but when he got inside, Lindsey wasn't there. He quickly did the only thing he could think off: he went to his parents.

"Mom, dad, have you guys seen Lindsey come home yet?" Sam asked frantically, walking into the RV. "Excuse me, can you knock, please? This is our bedroom" His mom snapped. "why wouldn't she be at home?" his dad asked. "We had a fight and we might have broken up, or on a break. I don't know" Sam said, not really thinking about his words.

"What!" Judy cried, standing. "No!"

"Look, I can't talk about it right now. I can't go into details, Mom. I have to find her" Sam said, but Judy wouldn't have it. "You're kidding me. Sit down. We're having a family meeting. Family meting!" Even Ron looked disappointed in Sam.

"You may not know this, but your father and I were not always this perfectly happy" Judy started. Sam didn't want to hear this, he needed to find Lindsey. "You know, there was a time in our marriage when I thought this was not gonna work out. I understand. But you cannot break up with this girl…"

Sam gave his dad a pleading look. "They had an argument" Ron tried to tell her, but Judy kept talking. "Maybe you just don't know what you're doing" Judy old him. "You need the book" she turned and pulled out a book from the cupboard behind her.

"You're always wrong. Get used to it" Ron told his son quietly. "Okay, you gotta read this. _She Comes First_. There's some killer shit in here" Just told her son.

Sam felt a tug in his heart. Lindsey had told him she had always put him first. She had never come first in their relationship. His mother might be more right than anyone could believe. "all I'm saying is, do you love this girl?" Judy asked, knowing the answer.

"Yes, I do. She's the one" Sam said with no hesitation.

"Then you gotta go get her. I mean, your dad and I, when we had troubles, he moved heaven and earth to find me. Say what you said. Say it" Ron sighed, but said, "I will follow you to the end of time" Sam smiled at his parents, finally seeing what they had.

Sam got up and headed for the door. "I want you to get out of the city. You get as far away from here as you can. You understand? I love you" with that, Sam left to find the girl of his dreams, and try to win her back.

* * *

><p><strong>Lindsey's POV<strong>

Dinner at Dylan's wasn't horrible, but she couldn't help but wish Sam was here with her. She placed a slim hand on her stomach. If only, if only. Dylan was showing her with attention and compliments, but she couldn't get herself to enjoy anything. She just wanted Sam. Was it selfish of her to want to do something for herself for once?

"Where is Sam?" Dylan asked me as we ate. I bit my lip slightly, before lying, "He's…busy"

"If I were him, I wouldn't let you out of my sight for one second" Dylan stated. "It's funny. I was just thinking on the way over here, I could really use some advice from Dylan, and there he is" we both looked over to see Sam standing in front of us. My heart sang at the sight. 'can I speak to you, Linds?"

"Welcome. Please, sit down" Dylan greeted, ignoring Sam's request. "You know what, I don't need a drink. Or a car, or a job. I just need to speak to my girlfriend alone. Is that okay with you, Mr. Inappropriate?" Sam snapped.

I couldn't help but shiver. I had to admit, when Sam was assertive and jealous like this, it was pretty hot. I stood up gratefully and followed Sam. "I guess I'll be leaving. It was nice to see you" I told Dylan.

"I really think I can help you, Sam" Dylan said when we were halfway across the room. "I remember a talk I had with my dad once about tough choices" we were just outside of the room. "Yeah, now's not the time. We'll set something up, though" Sam called. Dylan was following us out of the room when he said, "Of course, it was way back, when my dad's firm was in charge of budget review and accounting for NASA" we stopped. "You see, the thing that he tought me was, when it's not your war, you join the side that's going to win"

"Move" we ran.

We both climbed into the Mercedes, although I was reluctant. If Dylan was working for the Decepticons, and he got me the car…

With that thought, as we drove around the corner the car transformed into a Decepticon and we landed roughly on the grass. "You're mine" he said, grabbing me. I didn't fight to hard, because he grabbed me around the middle. If he squeezed to hard…I wouldn't risk it.

He transformed back into the Mercedes, but I was no less a prisoner. Then, a Decepticon the form of a raptor-bird swooped down at Sam. "You really think you're the first man ever asked to join the noble alien cause?" Dylan cried as he walked towards us. His other guests must be in on it, since none of them reacted.

"Who are you?" Sam screamed. "Do you know why we've not been to the moon since 1972? Because these two," he gestured to the Decepticons, "They came to my dad and they told him to do some creative accounting. Make it way too expensive to ever go back. So, he and the others shut down the American and Russian space programs. And they've been our clients ever since"

"You helped them kill people?" Sam asked, shocked. He had been fighting the alien war so long, he had forgotten the horrors humans can do themselves.

"You think they'd give you a choice? Besides, it's not like I personally participated. I am a liaison. I liaise" a couple big, black guards prevented Sam from attacking Dylan when Sam lunged for him. Dylan didn't even flinch.

Sam was thrown back.

"It's hostile takeover time, Sam" some long things, similar to Alice's tongue from the battle of Egypt, with sharp pointys and red eye-like-things came from the car, and I knew they could kill me, and painfully. I swallowed hard.

"Sam!"

Sam got up and ran for Dylan again, screaming "Let her go!" He was stopped again. 'I've had my eye on you for years, Sam. You're the one spy I've never been able to provide as someone close to the Autobots"

Sam spat in Dylan's face.

"Sam! Don't do what he wants! Don't do it!" I screamed, though I was frightened of being killed. "Yes he will" Dylan said, certain. "They all do" he slapped Sam. "They will slaughter her, you understand me? In the time it takes you to blink, they'll do it to her and they'll do it to me. So you show a little respect when someone offers you a job!" Dylan screamed in Sam's face.

"Wrist" one of the guards forced Sam's arm up. "You're to track down Optimus Prime, because you're the one human he trusts, and you will ask one question" the watch on Dylan's wrist because a tiny Decepticon that moved the Sam's wrist and re-transformed. "How does he intend to fight back? Strategies, tactics, everything!"

It looked like it stabbed itself into Sam's wrist, and Sam fell in pain.

"Has a nasty little bite, doesn't it. It's very high-tech. It lets us see what you see, hear what you hear, and it taps into your nervous system. So, if you so much as try and signal" Sam flinched. "I don't know what to tell you, Sam. Relationships have consequences. I am here because of my father. She is here because of you"

"Stop!" Sam cried as the spikes came closer to me. Dylan raised his hand. "Soundwave, would you please?" All the things pulled away from me.

"Sam, do your job. She'll be safe. I give you my word" Dylan promised.

Sam stood and glared at Dylan. "I'll kill you. You have my word" he swore. With that, Sam was forced away.

* * *

><p><strong>3<strong>**rd**** POV**

"Yeah, I really don't see how I can be of any help" Sam tried to tell Mearing when he arrive at the base. "I mean, you guys seem pretty busy. We could just do this another time, I think" sam said, trying not the help the Decepticons any more than he had to. The watch shot pains up his arms, but he tried to ignore it.

"I have underestimated you at every turn" Mearing said sincerely. "What?" Sam was confused, and distracted. If he didn't have to worry about the Decepticon spy tool, he would have been flattered. "You warned us that they were using humans. And you knew that Sentinel was the key"

"Director" a soldier called Mearing over.

"Ah, who am I? Hey, you're the expert. I'm just a walking security risk" he quoted her words. Another jolt. "Are you alright?" Mearing asked, finally noticing his odd behavior. "yes"

"No, you're not. You're sweating" Mearing observed. "I'm fine" Sam assured, lying through his teeth. "I'm sweating because I'm nervous. I'm nervous because you got me in here with this information. Okay, I'm a twitter junkie. I blog everything, I can't keep a secret to save my life" Sam said anything and everything that came to mind to keep Mearing from giving him any information.

"Oh, you wouldn't dare" Mearing scoffed. "That's the truth, I'm telling you" Sam insisted.

"Director, the pentagon's calling in 15" her secretary called.

The TV was on and Sam stared in horror, with the other NEST workers, watching the news announce the government's decision. "_It's been a remarkable series of events today at the Capitol. Just moments ago, legislation was passed to exile the Autobots from American shores. The US military alliance with them is officially over. In the words of the House Majority Leader, the sponsor of today's resolution, 'we cannot in good conscience invite them to stay…_"

Mearing's phone rang. As she answered, Sam said, "What? They can't do this! You gotta tell them. They can't do that" Sam insisted.

"Okay. It's official. It's go, people" Mearing said emotionlessly, not looking at Sam. "These are our allies. The Autobots fought for us. They fought with us" Sam pushed. "And where are we now? Facing an enemy invasion with an enemy that has the means to deploy countless more" Mearing walked away.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N – Urg. I am having total writer's block. I'll finish T3, but after that, I think I'm gonnahave to take a break. Maybe my pageant in Tacoma will inspire me to add more, or maybe I'll just have a short epilogue.**

* * *

><p>"If there's any more you know, anything at all, about the enemy's intentions, now is the time to tell" Mearing told Sam as they flew over to where the Autobots we going to be forced to leave.<p>

Sam wanted to say something, but what Lindsey had said still played in his mind. But this time, he was making a different choice. He had to choose between her and the world, and this time he chose her.

"The Autobots have no way of leaving this planet" Sam said instead. "And that is where you're wrong" Mearing told him. "Its name is the _Xanthium_. It brought the second wave of Autobots and it's been under NASA's care and study ever since. We linked it with a decommissioned shuttle to maintain military control until they're gone"

Mearing sounded nonchalant, but inside she was a mess. She knew sending the Autobots away was a bad idea, but there was nothing she could do. So she followed orders and tried to think of a way to save the planet without them.

"Gonna be 10,000 pounds of torque on that itsy-bitsy bolt, not 19!" an Autobot he had never seen called. "You're gonna risk the lives of all me mates! I'll ball you!" another unfamiliar bot screamed.

"These guys are the Wreckers. They take care of the _Xanthium_" Mearing told Sam. "We don't let them off the base much, 'cause they're assholes" that was the most informal thing Sam had ever heard her say.

"You gotta pull that, ya nancy wanker!" they kept yelling at each other. There were three bots total. "it's time to kill him!"

"I'm trying to help, you know. Just doing my job" one of the humans cried. "Just calm down. Leave him alone. This is a human being" Sam knew that voice. "Epps! Is that you?"

"what's up, man!" thy high-fived, but the watch wouldn't let Sam release Epps' hand. "How's Lindsey-girl?" Epps hadn't seen her in a long time. "I would have thought she'd be right at your side, especially now"

"Umm, she's good. She's okay, just…working, ya know?" Sam stuttered. "What are you doing here?" Epps looked at Sam oddly as Sam tried to detach his hand. "I retired from the Air Force. Can you let my hand go?" Sam was almost off the ground trying to let go; Epps was strong.

Finally, Sam's hand was released, but Epps thought no more of it. "What the hell was that?" was all he said, before turning away.

"Now I just consult to run interference for them" He nodded to the Wreckers. "Well you're not helping!" One cried. His voice sounded Scottish.

"No more combat and aliens shooting at my ass. I got a dream job" Epps continued. "Kicking the Autobots out. Can you believe this is happening?" Epps said, more solemn. "Where do you think it's taking them?" Sam asked.

"Any planet but here" Epps told him grimly.

Simmons and Dutch had arrived. Dutch had something around his neck for his broken collarbone and Simmons was in a wheelchair. "I wanna talk to whoever's in charge here!" Simmons commanded, too used to getting his way all the time.

"Well, well, well. Charlotte Mearing" Simmons drawled when he saw the Director. "Agent Simmons. Former agent Simmons" she corrected herself. So I see you survived "Washington"

"Washington, Egypt, heartbreak. I survive. I will survive" he said, dramatic as ever. "They're bringing everybody in, kid" Simmons said when he saw Sam. "Putting all the intell on the table. And if you think deporting nine Autobots is gonna solve a damn thing…"

"it's out of my hands" Mearing said sadly.

"Moving up in the world?" Simmons persisted, following Mearing and her posse. "Your boota looks excellent" Mearing snapped. She glared at her assistant, you turned away, as well as the other guards. Mearing growled at Simmons, "If you ever say a word to anyone about what happen that night in Quantico, I'll cut your heart out" she promised.

"You already did" Simmons told her.

"Sammy, listen to me. Don't let them exile us" Wheelie begged. "Don't let them take us, Sam" Brains added from their cage. "It's a Decepticon trap. We can't leave Mistress!" a guard took them away as Sam averted his eyes.

Cars took them to the actual ship. "Check the nitrogen level. We're booking out of here" One of the Wreckers was heard. Sam didn't pay attention as he approached Optimus Prime.

"Optimus?" Sam said warily, but Optimus only told him, "What your leaders say is true. This was all my fault. I told them whom to trust. I was so wrong" Of course Optimus would blame himself. "That doesn't make it your fault" Sam protested. "It just makes you human for a change"

"Remember this: You may lose your faith in us, but never in yourselves" Sam felt another jolt of pain, reminding him of his job, the only thing keeping Lindsey alive.

"I need to know how you're gonna fight back" Sam couldn't lie, not now. "I know this is strategy, I know you're coming back with reinforcements, something. I know there's a plan" Sam insisted. "You can tell me. No other human will ever know"

Sam hated his play on words, but he had no choice. _Lindsey over the world_, he repeated in his head; _Lindsey over the world._

"There is no plan" Optimus said solemnly.

"If we just do what they want, how are we gonna live with ourselves?" Sam asked. "You are my friend, Sam. You and Lindsey always will be" Sam felt a jolt at Lindsey's name, and it wasn't the watch. "But your leaders have spoken. From here, the fight will be your own"

Optimus turned and walked away. "Make it short" he said to Bumblebee, who was waiting by the ship. "We're loading up"

"_We're gonna do whatever we can…make it like it was…you will always be…my friend…Sam_" Bee told him. Sam wanted to sob. "_I gotta be going on_" Bee stood. "I can't do this, Bee" Sam said quietly. "I can't lose everything that matters to me" Bee said nothing. He simply walked away.

Simmons rolled over to Sam, who was kneeling at the railing, sobbing for his lose. "Years from now, they're gonna ask us, 'Where were you when they look over the planet?' We're gonna say, 'we just stood by and watched'"

* * *

><p><em>With Lindsey<em>

I was in the gallery, bored. Bored and scared, a very dangerous combination. "You should really look at this as a partnership" Dylan was saying. "You have to stand on the side of progress if you wanna be a part of history" he took me to a helicopter that was just outside.

I had been allowed to change into a comfortable pair of jeans and an orange tank-top, with my leather jacket that I had kept at work just in case.

Meanwhile, with Sam, they were watching as NASA launched the Autobots into space, as well as their virtually only hope for survival. Everyone but the people who had worked beside the Autobots cheered as they were launched into the air, heading away from Earth. They might as well have committed suicide.

Dylan was dialing a phone in the luxury helicopter. Lindsey glared out the window, worried. She couldn't hear who was on the other side of the call. "I always get what I want, Sam" she looked at him in surprise, "We just needed to be sure" _Sure of what?_ Both humans wondered, but Sam was the only one to say it aloud.

"That they would go without a fight"

Lindsey sobbed as she realized what he meant. "We all work for the Decepticons now" Dylan said over her crying.

* * *

><p><em>Chicago<em>

Sam ran to catch Simmons, holding out his phone. "I need you to track a phone call. There's a man on this phone. He's the head of their human operations and he has Lindsey hostage" Sam finally told Simmons.

Dutch grabbed the phone.

* * *

><p>She was led into a penthouse like area. "I want you to sit down. Don't move" Lindsey tried to stay calm. Stress was not good for her right now. There were staff everywhere and Dylan was off on his phone.<p>

* * *

><p>"The call was placed en route. I'm hacking into the phone's camera now" Dutch told them at the base. "There, that's it! That's a live stream from the camera" Dutch said, pointing to the screen.<p>

"Someplace…hold on. I can triangulate this. Okay, it's Chicago cell sites. There, I've got it. Trump Tower, Chicago. Lower penthouse" Dutch announced.

"I'm going" Sam said firmly. "You're sure?" Simmons asked.

"She's put everything on hold for me. She has been there for us for six years. It's time I do something for her, and I can be there in 15 hours" Sam stated.

"You're not going alone" Sam looked over to see Epps. "Like you said, Lindsey had always been there for us. Year after year, every time there was trouble with the Decepticons, or even in everyday life. It's about time we were there for her"

Epps led Sam out to his car. "I still got my NEST friends out there. I'll round them up, we'll find Linds, we're gonna bring this guy in"

* * *

><p>Dylan dragged Lindsey with him everywhere. When he picked up the…thing…for his 'bosses' she was there in the elevator with him. This was the only time she would see him alone.<p>

"They said they were here for our resources, to rebuild their planet" Lindsey mused. "Yes, but really one resource in particular. One unique to our planet" Dylan told her. "Us" Lindsey figured out. Her hand automatically went to her stomach.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Dylan snapped. "Surely after six years you'd be over the urge to puke at ever evil deed"

"Would you relish the thought of the unborn baby inside you dying?" Lindsey snapped before she could think. Dylan looked shocked. "You're pregnant?' he asked. Lindsey nodded. "Just over a month along. I was going to tell everyone Saturday, at your party. I was going to tell you I would need a few months off in about eight or nine months" tears started falling down her face.

Dylan sighed. He had to admit, he liked Lindsey. He didn't like working for the Decepticons. And he had meant his promise to Sam. "I'll do everything I can to keep you, and your baby, safe" he promised.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N – Yay, we found out what was with Lindsey, although I'm sure most of you had already guessed. Sorry it's been so long since my last update. What's worse is that these next two were already typed up. I just lost momentum again. I'm not sure how much farther into the future I'm going to write after the ending of T3. I was going to go on for a while, but now I'm thinking I'll just do one or two more chapters.**

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><p>"You see, they can't rebuild without a slave labor force" Dylan said loudly once they were out of the elevator. Lindsey knew it was all a ruse now. Anyone could be watching. "How many rocks up there in the universe offer six billion workers?"<p>

"We can't transport people, they'll die without the proper atmosphere" Lindsey cried. "They're not shipping people, they're shipping their planet here" Dylan told her.

He dragged her over to where Sentinel was setting up shop.

"What is Sentinel doing here?" Lindsey asked, confused. Wasn't he one of the good guys? "Watch. They're spreading hundreds of pillars around the globe right now. In just a few hours, they're gonna launch them into orbit and bring Cybertron into our atmosphere. The red one there controls the rest. He triggers that, it starts the whole thing"

"Be gone, insect operative. Your work is done" snapped Megatron. Lindsey hid behind Dylan, hoping Megatron wouldn't notice her.

"Your Excellency" Dylan bowed before turning. "He is such a dick" Dylan knew why Lindsey was hiding from Megatron and kept her hidden in front of him, trying to provide her cover. "You want this to happen?" Lindsey snapped as they walked past the chaos in the streets.

"I want to survive. I want 40 more years" Dylan told her. "You think I asked for this? I inherited a client" Lindsey rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and when Cybertron's here and we're all their slaves, I guess they'll still need a human leader. What kind of 40 years will those be?"

"Don't jinx me. You want to survive, you listen to me" Dylan's way of telling her he couldn't protect her if she didn't shut up. It seemed that, when the decepticons attacked, it was all about speaking in code.

They were up in a balcony. It was suddenly dark, as if several hours had passed. There were Cybertronian ships blowing up parts of the city. When one hit too close, Dylan didn't hesitate in grabbing her around her waist and spinning so he could take the brunt of the force, though it didn't touch them.

He felt protective of Lindsey. Everything he had told Sam that first, fateful day was true. So Dylan held Lindsey close so if anything happened, he could save her. He felt oddly jealous of Sam. Lindsey was an amazing girl.

Dylan led her inside, startled by the mass killing the Decepticons were doing. He wanted Lindsey to stay away from the windows, in case a stupid bot thought to fry her, but knew it was useless.

"I guess they didn't tell you about this part, did they?" Lindsey panted, trying not to cry. "You think I'm at every meeting? Look, I'm safe. They said I was safe. I'm safe, so you're safe…for now"

* * *

><p>Sam was sitting in the car with Epps, worried. He had the feeling Lindsey was okay for now, but for how long. Epps had made the calls. All of his buddies were in their cars, ready for him to simply pass by so they could move.<p>

"We had a signal earlier" Epps told Sam quietly. "It's not working"

They drove through the destruction, feeling nothing but sorrow. Those poor people lost their lives, and nothing could bring them back. No Alspark, no Matrix. For humans, there were no second chances.

"_This is a national_ _emergency broadcast. Chicago has suffered a massive attack_" there were people everywhere, running away, trying to get out of the city. "Wrong way!" People were yelling at them. "Get out of here, go back!" but they drove on.

They stopped a little ways from the center of the city. That was where it was the worst, and where most of the Decepticons were located.

They walked through the rubble, not looking at the group of school kids that ran past them. "My God" Epps muttered. "We came here to find her in the middle of all that?" one of Epps' guys asked. "Are we really going out there, Epps?" another asked. "I'm not going in there" said another. "No one's going in" Epps said.

"I am"

Everyone turned to look at Sam. Louder, he said "With or without you, I'll find her"

"Sam, you're going to get yourself killed!" Epps cried, going after him. Sam turned on Epps. "She's here because of me, don't you understand?" Sam snapped. "Listen, if you go in this building, that's if she's even still alive, there's no way you're gonna be able to reach her!"

"She would have already been in there, without any weapons or protection, with no plan or back up if it was you, any of you, even if she had no idea what your name was, or if you were dead or alive! But you're going to let her stay there, in the heart of the Decepticon attacks?" Sam snapped.

Epps felt ashamed. He knew it was true, too. Lindsey would have gone in there with nothing but the clothes on her back and vague information and fought tooth and nail to save even a complete stranger.

"Incoming!" One of Epps' guys yelled. Sam and Epps sprung away from the road as a Cybertronian ship started shooting at them.

Several civilians were disintegrated. Then, something shot at the ship. Several something. The ship crashed, and a malfunctioning Decepticon fought its way out. Optimus walked up from behind Epps and Sam, looking more deadly than any Decepticon and slightly evil, as he said "we will kill them all"

"Wreckers, kill him" the three Wreckers killed the Decepticon before he could get out. They tore him to pieces.

"Your leaders will now understand. Decepticons will never leave your planet alone. And we needed them to believe we had gone. For today, in the name of freedom, we take the battle to them!"

More Autobots drove up before transforming. "I saw your ship blow up!" Sam said, not understanding. "The ship? We were never in the ship! We designed the damn thing, didn't we?" one Wrecker said. "We were hidden in the first booster rocket to separate. Splashed down back in the Atlantic just as planned" Another said.

"We ain't going nowhere"

"Yeah, no one's exiling us!" Brains added. "The Autobots are staying right here. We're gonna help you win this war" Wheelie said. "They're surrounding the city to make a fortress so that no one can see what they're up to inside" Optimus surmised. Our only chance is the element of surprise"

"Speaking of surprise, where da Mistress?" Wheelie asked. Sam looked down. "The head of the Decepticons human operatives had her hostage" Sam told them all. "I had no choice"

They all looked shocked, and then they looked mad. "They took Lindsey?" Ironhide growled. Sam nodded. "What about the baby?" Brains asked. Everyone looked at him as Wheelie smacked him. "We're not supposed to tell, genius!" Wheelie cried.

"What baby?" Sam asked. "Yours and Lindsey's. She's pregnant" Brains told them. Wheelie sighed and started muttering as everyone else processed the information. Sam looked at everyone else. "Now we really need to get her out of there"

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><p>"You can fly this thing, right?" Sam and Bumblebee. Bee was going to fly the Decepticons' ship. Bee made a so-so motion. "What is that…what is that? So-so? So you so-so can fly it. That feels terrible" Sam shook his head and went to Epps.<p>

Epps handed Sam his pistol. "We're right behind you"

Before, Sam wouldn't have understood the significance of this, but now, after six years, he got it. Epps wasn't just trusting Sam to lead, he was trusting Sam with their lives.

"All right, we're going in!"

Bee flew off.

* * *

><p>Lindsey was sitting across on of Dylan's dogs. She didn't want to do anything slightly dangerous. She refused to risk her and Sam's baby.<p>

* * *

><p>Bee dropped Sam off at the appropriate floor. He hid with this gun out until he saw Dylan.<p>

"Uh, I'm so sick of this. I'm just sick of waiting and worrying" Sam heard Dylan say. Sam stood and pointed his gun and Dylan. "Where is she?"

Lindsey heard him and started running. "You've got some balls" Dylan told him. Dylan didn't really want anything to happen to Sam, because he's the father of Lindsey's baby, but he had to keep up his act.

The stereo on the wall transformed into Ravage, and he growled at Lindsey before attacking Sam. Dylan grabbing Sam's dropped gun and ravage picked up Sam and flew outside. "No!" Lindsey screamed, but Dylan wrapped his arms around her waist, stopping her from following.

Ravage dropped Sam outside. "Lindsey!" they turned to see Sam standing on a ship, hovering just by the balcony.

Lindsey got free and ran. "Jump!" she did, landing right next to Sam. Sam wrapped his arms around her as Bee turned the ship. Bee shot up the penthouse while Sam hugged Lindsey, relieved she was okay.

Ravage flew after them. He attacked Sam, who had hidden Lindsey behind some machinery for safety. Bee flew around, trying to get rid of ravage. "Bee, fire!" Sam screamed. Bee did so, and Ravage's head was shot off.

The ship crashed into the street, but all three were alright.

The Autobots came to them, and Epps came running. "Robert!" Lindsey cried as Epps picked her up and spun her around. "What's this I hear about you having a bun in the oven" Epps asked. Lindsey shook her head. "Not the time"

"What is that? Is that us?" Sam asked, pointing to a mini-drone. "This things a military UAV. Stone, check and see if it's still working" Epps ordered.

"Yeah, it's still got power" Stone answered. "Flight control, do you copy? Can…can you rotate? Can yo do something? Come on, work! Work! Can you rotate or something?" the camera moved. "Yes, yes! Okay, they can see us." Sam kneeled before the camera. "Chicago's ground zero, do you understand me? Can you hear us? You understand?"

Lindsey pushed him away. "Listen, Sentinel is here and he had the pillars to his space bridge. They're on top of a building on Chicago River. It's owned by Hotchkiss Gould Investments. Now, the pillar that controls everything is in the southeast cupola."

"You've got to destroy the pillar. You have to shoot down the pillar or they're going to transport Cybertron here, do you understand" Sam told them.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N – another chapter. yeah, I don't think I'm going to have this continue for much longer. another two chapters at most, I think.**

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><p>"We need to move before the fighter spot us" Optimus ordered. "Wait here until we scout a route ahead"<p>

"Hey, think we could use that rocket to shoot down the pillar?" Sam asked, see the guys getting armed. "We're eight blocks away. We got to get closer to take a shot" Epps told him. "Not closer. Higher. We need a clear long on sight" one of Epps guys corrected.

"And it's across the river. Gonna have a hell of a time trying to sneak up." Epps added. "We only got one shot" another guy said.

Sam thought for a moment. "One shot; all we need."

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><p>They all headed off, trying to find the perfect spot to shoot. "That is one scary-ass Decepticon" one of the guys yelled as they ran into a building after being chased by Shockwave. "They got my trailer. I need that flight tech" Optimus complained.<p>

"Shockwave can't hunt all of us at once. Wrecker, we need a diversion" that's what they're best at, after all.

"Listen, we're gonna circle around to that glass building" Epps explained. "And we'll get high enough to make the rocket shot, while you guys draw his fire. Let's move!"

"Wait a minute! I'm not letting you go out there without my urban combat prototype" Que said. "They're great inventions for kicking ass"

"What are these?" Epps asked.

"Those are boom-stick. Armed in 30 seconds" Que explained. "Grapple gloves, for climbing."

Sam turned to Lindsey. "Linds, I want you to stay here" Sam told her. "No!" Lindsey protested, but Sam hushed her. "You're pregnant. You may not show yet, but you've already been through enough."

Lindsey reluctantly nodded. "Don't worry, Sam. We'll take care of her" Ironhide promised. He and Que would stay hidden with Lindsey to protect her and the baby.

"Alright, let's roll"

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><p>Lindsey hated waiting. She watched as Shockwave attacked the building Sam was in, and Ironhide had to restrain her as it fell.<p>

Lindsey shut her eyes tight, trying to shut out all the sound, praying.

After what seemed like forever, and her drowning out the sounds of battle, there was silence.

"Lindsey!" Sam ran into the building, cheering. "We won." They ran to each other, and Sam lifted Lindsey up into the air, spinning her around and he kissed her soundly. Will and Robert smirked as they walked, side-by-side toward the two.

"I'm so sorry. You were right, but now I'm choosing you. You over the world. You're the only thing I need in this world, and I'll do anything to make it up to you, and our child, I promise" Sam swore.

"I'll hold you to that" Lindsey told him.

Sam passed Lindsey around as everyone hugged her. They all loved her so much. And, Optimus guess, this is why the Alspark chose her to be the Mistress of Cybertron. Because she connected everyone in a way no one or thing could.

_In any war there are calms between storms. There will be days when we lose faith. Days when our allies turn against us. But the day will never come that we forsake this planet and its people._


	28. The End

**A/N – Last chapter. I've decided to only do one more. I just want to say i love all of you guys and thank you for all of the support I've gotten thorugh all of my hardships as I've written this. It's strange to think about everything that's happened since the conception of this story, and now it's all over.**

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><p>Surprisingly, it wasn't Sarah that insisted I go to the hospital, or even Sam or Will. It was Robert. So, after everything had calmed down, everyone loaded up and headed to the hospital. Sam and I weren't the only ones worried about the baby. Everyone involved that knew me or Sam was going, even Mearing!<p>

Mearing, or Charlotte as she has asked us to call her now, was not as bad as we first thought. She just followed the rules to the extreme. In fact, Charlotte and I had a lot in common.

Everyone was waiting in the waiting room of the nearest, functional hospital as I was examined. Sam was in there with me, wanting to be there when I received the news. A hour or so later, we walked out of the room hand-in-hand, faces straight. Everyone looked at us nervously. "The baby's fine" I told them, a smile appearing on both of our faces.

Several shoulders slumped in relief, and we received hugs from all of the humans.

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><p>A month later, we were all collected at the Lennox Household; the only one large enough, with enough property to hold everyone. Sarah and I had taken over the kitchen, while Will was working the barbeque. Annabelle was in the kitchen with us, as we were really the only girls besides Charlotte, who had yet to arrive.<p>

All of the military guys and Sam were around the barbeque, just hanging out. Leo was there as well, with his girlfriend Cameron. She was a computer hacker who had secretly helped hide the Autobots throughout the years, deleteing and trashing the reputations of several unfriendlies.

"Everyone, gather round for a moment, please. can you all gather around! Sam's voice echoed as he called for attention. Everyone formed a circle around Sam and I. I looked at him curiously, wondering what he was up to.

"Lindsey" his voice was oddly clear and echoed slightly in the deafening silence. "We've been through a lot together the last six year. Discovering an alien race, hiding from the goverment, and being betrayed by one we thought me could trust. Oh, and finding oout you were pregnant in the middle of the most recent of wars" there was a sprinkling of laughter at that comment, but for the most part, it was still silent.

"You have been by my side every step of the way, even when I didn't deserve it. 'You over the world' you had told me once. Well, I've decided to choose you over the world"

Then, he kneled, making me, as well as several other women, gasp. Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box. "Lindsey Maria Stewart, will you marry me?"

I was crying. I think the largest reason I was so over-emotional was the hormons, or at least, that's what I'm planning on blaming my reaction on. I broke into a smile and practically jumped on poor Sam, shouting in his ear.

"Yes. Yes, yes, YES!" I screamed, squeezing him tight. Sam grabbed me and stood, twirling me around, my feet high off the ground as everyone cheered.

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><p>"Momma, Bee called me 'Little lady' again!" Clara, our six year old daughter, came running into the house. Sam came in after her, chuckling. I wiped my wet hands on my jeans and kneeled down, arms out. Clara ran into my arms, giving me a giant hug.<p>

"Oh, Sweetie, he means it nicely. Bee called me the same thing when he first found me. He called me that up until I had you. Now, I'm Mamma and you're little lady" I soothed. Clara calmed down and sighed. "Alright, but only he can call me that. Anyone else, and I'll sick Ironhide on them"

Sam and I shared a grin on that. we had finally found Ironhide's weakness, the children. Especially the girls. Annabelle and Clara could easily bring Ironhide to his knees.

I looked around at our house, the pictures littering the walls. Our wedding, Clara's birth, birthday parties, barbeque's, picnic, and one big picture off all the Autobots, the soldiers, and our families standing together. Everyone from the very begginging to right now, standing together. I smiled as sam and i continued our life. It was over. and we had our happily ever after.

Until the next time we needed to get into the car.


End file.
